Tesla may soon announce a capital raise after Elon Musk suggested “There is some merit to raising capital,” adding “It’s probably about the right time,” as quoted by Reuters. The comments by Tesla’s CEO followed the release of the company’s first-quarter results yesterday.
The EV maker reported a net loss of US$702 million as well as a US$1.5-billion decline in cash and cash equivalents, to US$2.2 billion. What’s more, Model 3 production only inched up by 3 percent during the quarter, to 63,000, which must have disappointed shareholders eager to see the strong growth in production promised by the company.
Going forward, Musk once again revised down production targets: the gigafactory in Shanghai, currently in construction, would produce an average 1,000 or maybe 2,000 Model 3s weekly this year, rather than the 3,000 expected earlier.
Overall, however, Tesla kept its production forecasts for the year unchanged at 360,000 to 400,000. A production rate of 500,000 cars is also a possibility in case the Chinese factory achieves volume production in the last quarter of the year. Related: Investors Are Piling Into Tax-Exempt Municipal Bonds
As for the next financial results of the company, this quarter’s loss will be a lot lower than the one for the first quarter, and in the third quarter the carmaker will return to the black. The need for a capital raise, however, may worry investors, whose lives have been kept interesting by Musk and company without a doubt.
The latest reason to worry came earlier this month, when one of the company’s largest shareholders, T. Rowe Price, cut its the stake he holds in Tesla via several funds sparking concern in the market. Between September and December last year, the funds reduced their holding in the EV maker from 10.2 percent to 5.2 percent. The cutting continued in 2019 as well: according to Reuters Refinitiv data, the asset manager divested 92 percent of its previous interest in Tesla.
By Irina Slav for Safehaven.com
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