Tesla 2023 Q4 earnings report

01 Business performance and growth drivers

Automotive revenue was 21.563 B$, Energy Generation/Storage 1.438 B$, and Services/Other 2.166 B$. Automotive includes regulatory credits and leasing; storage deployments in GWh are not revenue in B$.

Versus the preceding quarter, consolidated revenue changed by +1.817 B$ and operating profit by +0.300 B$; operating margin changed by +0.6 percentage points. Segment commentary explains the consolidated result. Sequential changes without controlling for acquisitions, seasonality and product transitions are not long-term growth rates.

02 Profit quality and margins

Operating margin was 8.2%; net profit included a one-off non-cash 5.9 B$ deferred-tax valuation-allowance release that did not affect operating profit.

On consolidated revenue of 25.167 B$, operating margin was 8.2% and net margin 31.5%. Net profit differed from operating profit by +5.864 B$, reflecting non-operating items, taxes and related effects. This difference cannot by itself be attributed to product demand or operating competitiveness.

03 Cash flow and financial capacity

Quarterly operating cash flow of 4.370 B$ less capital expenditure of 2.306 B$ gives common-basis FCF of 2.064 B$. Ending cash and cash equivalents were 16.398 B$, versus total liabilities of 43.009 B$. Liabilities are not equivalent to borrowings; cash excludes separately reported short-term investments.

Common-basis FCF was 8.2% 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.

04 Management commentary and contemporaneous guidance

The company described itself as between the Model 3/Y expansion wave and the next-generation platform wave.

Management warned 2024 vehicle growth could be notably lower than 2023 and expected Energy growth to outpace Automotive.

05 Risks and next checks

Do not treat the tax benefit as recurring earnings or cash; monitor pricing, Cybertruck ramp costs and the gap before the next platform.

Quarterly results · CY-aligned view

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.