Tesla reports wide Q4 loss, beats revenue expectations
In its first earnings since merging with SolarCity, Tesla continues to burn through cash as it reported a wider-than-expected loss Wednesday.
For the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, the Palo Alto-based automaker reported a loss of 69 cents per share on $2.28 billion versus what analysts expected — a loss of 53 cents a share on revenue of $2.2 billion.
Though it beat Wall Street's revenue expectations, Palo Alto-based Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) showed higher expenses both in the fourth quarter and for all of 2016.
The earnings are the first financials released since Tesla shareholders approved the company's acquisition of San Mateo-based SolarCity, which was a $2.6 billion merger of two companies that have influence by Elon Musk.
Since the deal, around $85 million in solar-related operating expenses were added. There was also a leap on research-and-development expenses, which rose 29 percent year over year this quarter while administrative expenses jumped 58 percent year over year.
In the earnings report, Tesla also gave an update on the highly anticipated Model 3, which the company said will achieve "volume production" by September.
To date, Tesla has not hit its forecast for deliveries, although last year it came close, predicting 80,000 to 90,000 cars and delivering a little under 76,300.
Tesla's ambitious goal of producing half a million cars by 2018 largely hinges on the success of the Model 3, which is the company's first mainstream-affordable car option by the car makers at $35,000.
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