InveDeckEARNINGS · TSLA

EARNINGS REVIEW

Tesla 2022 Q4 earnings report

2022 Q4 · 2022-12-31Release date 2023-01-25B$ · USD billions

Historical earnings report · Management guidance reflects expectations at the time of the release, not subsequent outcomes. The financial comparison uses the site’s normalized dataset, including comparative figures restated in later filings.

Delivery growth was supplemented by FSD revenue recognition.

Revenue
24.318 B$
Operating income
3.901 B$
FCF · company definition
1.420 B$

Assessment · Delivery growth was supplemented by FSD revenue recognition. Reading consolidated margins alongside FCF separates business scale from cash realization. The next assessment depends on the business-specific checks set out below.

01 Business performance and growth drivers

Automotive revenue was 21.307 B$, Energy Generation/Storage 1.310 B$, and Services/Other 1.701 B$. Automotive includes regulatory credits and leasing; storage deployments in GWh are not revenue in B$.

Versus the preceding quarter, consolidated revenue changed by +2.864 B$ and operating profit by +0.213 B$; operating margin changed by -1.1 percentage points. Segment commentary explains the consolidated result. Sequential changes without controlling for acquisitions, seasonality and product transitions are not long-term growth rates.

Evidence · 1 ↗ · 2 ↗

02 Profit quality and margins

Operating margin was 16.0%; 0.324 B$ of FSD revenue recognition helped, while the FX operating-profit headwind exceeded 0.3 B$.

On consolidated revenue of 24.318 B$, operating margin was 16.0% and net margin 15.2%. Net profit differed from operating profit by -0.214 B$, reflecting non-operating items, taxes and related effects. This difference cannot by itself be attributed to product demand or operating competitiveness.

Evidence · 1 ↗

03 Cash flow and financial capacity

Quarterly operating cash flow of 3.278 B$ less capital expenditure of 1.858 B$ gives common-basis FCF of 1.420 B$. Ending cash and cash equivalents were 16.253 B$, versus total liabilities of 36.440 B$. Liabilities are not equivalent to borrowings; cash excludes separately reported short-term investments.

Common-basis FCF was 5.8% of revenue. Both operating cash flow and capital expenditure refer to this quarter, not annual or trailing-twelve-month periods. Working-capital movements and non-cash adjustments mean operating cash flow need not equal net profit.

Evidence · 1 ↗ · 2 ↗ · 3 ↗ · 4 ↗

04 Management commentary and contemporaneous guidance

Management emphasized cost efficiency amid higher financing rates and vehicle-price deflation.

The company projected around 1.8 million vehicles in 2023 and planned Cybertruck production that year; distinguish long-term CAGR targets from annual forecasts.

Evidence · 1 ↗

05 Risks and next checks

Deferred FSD revenue recognition does not imply fresh same-quarter cash; separate pricing, deliveries and recognition effects.

Evidence · 1 ↗

Quarterly results · CY-aligned view

Metric · B$2021 total of 2 included quarters3Q
2021 Q3
2021-09-30
4Q
2021 Q4
2021-12-31
2022 full-year total1Q
2022 Q1
2022-03-31
2Q
2022 Q2
2022-06-30
3Q
2022 Q3
2022-09-30
4Q
2022 Q4
2022-12-31
QoQ ΔYoY Δ
Revenue31.47613.75717.71981.46218.75616.93421.45424.3182.8646.599
Operating income4.6172.0042.61313.6563.6032.4643.6883.9010.2131.288
Operating margin (%)14.66814.56714.74716.76419.21014.55117.19016.042−1.149 pp1.295 pp
Net income3.9391.6182.32112.5563.3182.2593.2923.6870.3951.366
FCF · company definition4.1031.3282.7757.5662.2280.6213.2971.420−1.877−1.355
Operating cash flow · total7.7323.1474.58514.7243.9952.3515.1003.278−1.822−1.307
Net cash CapEx · common3.6291.8191.8107.1581.7671.7301.8031.8580.0550.048
Cash CapEx · Chinese company definition——————————
FCF · total calculation4.1031.3282.7757.5662.2280.6213.2971.420−1.877−1.355
Net cash · liquid assets less borrowings12.3659.44912.36520.14014.59215.76318.71020.1401.4307.775
Liquid assets · including short-term investments17.70716.09517.70722.18518.01318.91521.10722.1851.0784.478
Borrowings · interest-bearing debt5.3426.6465.3422.0453.4213.1522.3972.045−0.352−3.297
Cash and cash equivalents17.57616.06517.57616.25317.50518.32419.53216.253−3.279−1.323
Total liabilities · accounting liabilities30.54829.34030.54836.44030.63230.85533.30236.4403.1385.892

CY denotes the calendar quarter with the greatest overlap with the fiscal period. If the first period has no start date, 89 days before its end is used only for calendar mapping. Financial values are not recalculated into calendar quarters. Incomplete years show totals of included quarters; cash, liabilities, borrowings and net cash use the last period-end balance. QoQ and YoY show absolute changes; margin changes are percentage points. Dashes indicate missing evidence or incomparable periods or definitions. Total liabilities never substitute for borrowings.

Definitions and evidence coverage

A dash means unavailable or undisclosed, not zero. Company-defined FCF may differ from total operating cash flow less common-basis CapEx. Total liabilities are accounting liabilities, not interest-bearing debt.

Management commentary summarizes the contemporaneous official earnings release; this report does not represent a full conference-call Q&A review.

Official source documents

  1. TSLA 2022 12 31 release ↗
  2. Canonical financial data filing reference ↗
  3. Tesla Q2 2023 update comparative financial table ↗
  4. Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
  5. Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
  6. Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
  7. Financial filing · 2021-09-30 ↗
  8. Financial filing · 2021-09-30 ↗
  9. Financial filing · 2021-12-31 ↗
  10. Financial filing · 2022-03-31 ↗
  11. Financial filing · 2022-03-31 ↗
  12. Financial filing · 2022-06-30 ↗
  13. Financial filing · 2022-06-30 ↗
  14. Financial filing · 2022-09-30 ↗