Tesla has delivered the goods in its Q3 2021 earning report with it reporting revenues of $13.76 billion which is slightly below the lofty expectations of the analysts at Wall Street which expected revenues of $14 billion.
“The third quarter of 2021 was a record quarter in many respects. We achieved our best-ever net income, operating profit, and gross profit. Additionally, we reached an operating margin of 14.6%, exceeding our medium-term guidance of “operating margin in low-teens,” said the electric car maker in its announcement.
Notably, Tesla’s automotive gross margins improved by 30 percent in this quarter despite cost pressure from the supply chain as the world continues to suffer from a global semiconductor crisis. Tesla’s engineers were swift to rewrite code for new parts which helped the company navigate the crisis well.
But despite these improving margins, Tesla’s cash in hand actually went down due to debt repayment.
“Quarter-end cash and cash equivalents decreased to $16.1B in Q3, driven mainly by net debt and finance lease repayments of $1.5B, partially offset by the free cash flow of $1.3B. Our total debt excluding vehicle and energy product financing has fallen to just $2.1B at the end of Q3,” said the company in its shareholder letter.
This quarter Tesla has started sales of the Model S Plaid which has been a success, apart from it opening its Berlin Gigafactory which has started rolling out Tesla Model Y units. Earlier in the year, the Model 3 became the best-selling executive sedan in the world, but Tesla estimates, the Model Y will overtake its sales at some point.