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Tesla Burns Through $2 Billion In 2017 (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Tesla reported record revenue for 2017, floated by customer deposits of the recently announced Semi truck and Roadster sports car. Despite its optimistic sales numbers, Model 3 production issues and cash flow problems haunt the company, but Tesla insists its on track to meet its production goals of 5,000 cars a week by mid-2018. Tesla reported $3.3 billion in revenue, which was expected, but also posted a $771 million quarterly loss -- its largest quarterly loss ever. The company reported a negative free cash flow of $276.7 million. And it reported a net loss of $2.24 billion in 2017, a significant increase over the $773 million net loss it reported in 2016.
Inb4 all the comments of Telsa being a failure for the amount of money they are losing. But, in reality, that money isn't a loss. It is investment. Look how long Amazon lasted before they turned their first profit.
So far, Tesla has produced enough so that people are eager to throw money at it. No problem raising funds.
They are making cars and have plans for new models and trucks and energy storage and solar panels and roofs. That takes money. As long as they deliver, they can continue to raise money to grow. If they stopped spending on new stuff today, they would be profitable but wouldn't have much of a future.
It took Amazon years to become profitable and now Bezos is world's richest man.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
People don't mind tossing their money into the Tesla furnace because it offers hope in the future in terms of real social value, as opposed to financial numbers value. They are the only public facing company making any significant efforts toward a better future.
Tesla reported record revenue for 2017, floated by customer deposits
Deposits are liabilities. They only turn into revenue when you deliver whatever it was the deposit was for.
Meh.
They invest what they have in a measured fashion to realize their plan. If they hit their stride on the Model 3 by the end of Q2, they should generate positive free cash flow at a minimum. At which point, they will likely invest in a ramp-up of the Model Y, which is expected to require an assembly line in China... and consume significant cash.
If I found anything disappointing in their financials, it was the fact that the energy business isn't doing as well as I would hope-- especially on the energy storage side. It looks like the windfarm battery plant in South Australia accounted for 60%+ of that revenue. I guess the other concern is the fact that sales/manufacturing of the S and X will be constrained by availability of the 18650 cells to 100k units.