Oppenheimer Sees No Q2 Surprises From Tesla

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares are up 1.7 percent on Thursday after the company reported big Q2 earnings and revenue misses. The company reported a net loss of $292.3 million on revenue of $1.56 billion, well short of analyst expectations.

Despite the top- and bottom-line misses, Tesla management did not change its projections of 50,000 vehicle shipments in the second half of 2016. The company shipped just 14,400 vehicles in Q2.

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch wasn’t surprised by Tesla’s quarter, and the firm remains on the sidelines until Tesla can show some progress toward profitability.

Rusch noted that Tesla appears to be taking on increasing responsibility when it comes to technology development.

“It also appears to have taken a hard line with suppliers on timelines, pricing and allocation of resources,” he explained. “While we see potential benefits, we note increasing risk on supplier pushback.”

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Auto gross margins came in about 2 percent above expectations in the quarter, but forward guidance of another 2–3 percent improvement by Q4 is in line with expectations.

Despite the disappointing quarter, the long-term Tesla story appears intact, which is likely the reason for the positive market reaction.

Oppenheimer maintains its Perform rating on Tesla.

At time of writing, Tesla was up 1.60 percent on the day at $229.40.

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Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.

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