Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were trading more than 6% lower Thursday afternoon following the company’s reported Q3 results, with revenue coming in at $21.45 billion, missing the Street estimate of $22.5 billion. EPS was $1.05, slightly better than the Street estimate of $1.03.
Following the results, analysts at Deutsche Bank lowered their price target to $355 from $390, noting that weaker revenue and gross margins seem to be largely attributable to production ramp-up costs out of Giga Texas/Berlin which the analysts view as temporary, rather than any reflection of softening pricing or demand.
Continuing its rebound from the Q2 trough and following lower-than-expected sequential margin improvement in Q3, the analysts believe the company is still positioned to deliver a record Q4 as its factories continue to scale globally. Indeed, the analysts mentioned that deliveries could come in just shy of over 50% year-over-year growth, but this reflects the build of in-transit vehicles due to the new distribution system, with production still outpacing the 50% growth target.
