• Q4 2016 Financials: Tesla posted a Q4 2016 loss of $121.3 million, narrower than the $320 million net loss in the previous year. Revenue was $2.28 billion, up from $1.24 billion in Q4 the year before, with $7 billion in annual gross revenue.
• Q3 Performance: Followed a Q3 where the company posted a rare profitable quarter called the “best quarter ever” by CEO Elon Musk.
• Margin and Acquisitions: Gross margin fell between Q3 and Q4 2016 due to lower Zero Emissions Vehicle credit sales. Completed acquisition of SolarCity and Grohmann Engineering, which will become Tesla Advanced Automation Germany.
• 2017 Plans: Going into 2017, expecting to invest in Model 3 development, expand mobile repair service and North American Supercharger stations. Installing Model 3-specific manufacturing equipment at Fremont and Gigafactory in Sparks. Referring to Sparks plant as “Gigafactory 1” and SolarCity’s Buffalo factory as “Gigafactory 2” and expecting to finalize locations for Gigafactories 3, 4, and possibly 5. Expected to sell 47,000 to 50,000 Model S and Model X vehicles in the first half of 2017.
• Revenue Breakout: Beginning to break out revenue and cost of revenue attributable to “Energy generation and storage” instead of lumping it into “Services and other”. Listed $131 million in energy generation and storage revenue, up from $23,000.
• Earnings Call Highlights: Anticipated the storage market could grow at maybe twice the rate of the automotive business. Delivered a large lithium ion battery substation for Southern California Edison and will deliver a similar one on Kauai next month. Chief Financial Officer Jason Wheeler will leave in April to pursue opportunities in public policy and former CFO Deepak Ahuja will rejoin in March. Tesla is quietly rolling out an insurance package with partnering firms and foresees offering a maintenance and insurance package with its cars.