Tesla (TSLA) missed earnings expectation, beat on revenue in Q2 – highlights from shareholders letter

Tesla released its second quarter 2016 financial results today after market close. The automaker missed on expectations for earnings, but beat slightly on revenue. Wall Street’s revenue consensus was $1.533 billion and Tesla generated $1.6 billion in NON-GAAP revenue, while the earnings consensus was a loss of $0.53 per share for the quarter, but Tesla actually lost $1.06 per basic share .

The company reaffirmed 50,000 deliveries in the second half of the year to hit the low-end of its original guidance of 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles.

You can read the shareholders letter in full below.

Here are the highlights:

• Tesla says that demand is not a problem: “Q2 net new vehicle orders rose 67% from a year ago”
• Tesla accelerating retail rollout: “a new retail location every four days on average during the remainder of Q3 and through Q4”
• The company highlights its record production of 18,345 vehicles during the quarter: ” Production hours per vehicle also declined throughout the quarter for both cars”
• “Some Model 3 production equipment is already on line, including initial capacity in our stamping and paint centers.”
• Gross margin was 23.1% on a GAAP basis (average S and X) – up from 21.9% in Q1.
• Cash position up to $3.25 billion due to capital raise, Model 3 deposits and draw from ABL.

Here’s the shareholders letter:

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