Tesla (TSLA) releases Q2 2021 results: surprises with big profit beat

Fred Lambert | Jul 26 2021 - 1:09 pm PT

Tesla (TSLA) has released its financial results and shareholders letter for the second quarter of 2021 after market close today.

We are updating this post with all the details from the financial results, shareholders’ letter, and the conference call later tonight. Refresh for the latest information.

Tesla Q2 2021 earnings expectations

Earlier today, we posted our Tesla earnings preview with Wall Street expectations.

The Wall Street consensus for this quarter is $11.532 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.94 per share.

Tesla Q2 2021 earnings results

The automaker has now released its Q2 2021 results and it shows a significant beat of both revenue and earnings expectations with revenue of $11.958 billion and earnings of $1.45 per share (non-GAAP).

Tesla was more profitable than expected this quarter:

In the second quarter of 2021, we broke new and notable records. We produced and delivered over 200,000 vehicles, achieved an operating margin of 11.0% and exceeded $1B of GAAP net income for the first time in our history.

It resulted in a strong free cash flow of over $600 million, but Tesla repaid $1.6 billion – resulting in a decrease of cash-on-hand:

Quarter-end cash and cash equivalents decreased to $16.2B in Q2, driven mainly by net debt and finance lease repayments of $1.6B, partially offset by free cash flow of $619M.

Tesla’s automotive gross margins have improved to 28% (25% without regulatory credits) this quarter with operating margin now reaching 11%.

We will be posting our follow-up posts here about the earnings and conference call to expand on the most important points (refresh the page to see the most recent posts):

Here’s Tesla’s Q2 2021 shareholder letter and presentation in full:

[scribd id=517425839 key=key-Ssux6iu3Yw0VajQVL6Zx mode=scroll]

Here’s Tesla’s Q2 2021 conference call via YouTube: