The stock of the Day
Tesla will be the stock of the day after its smashing quarterly numbers, which blew past all expectations and stunned Wall Street analysts. The stock skyrocketed in after-hours trading and soared over 5% on the back of its record EPS that blew past estimates. The company also produced impressive gross margin numbers and boosted its sales due to its higher-priced ECVs. The improvement in gross margin is even though Tesla did experience higher costs from some suppliers. The cost surge by Tesla suppliers, in some cases, rose nearly 30%. Nonetheless, Tesla still came out strong, and the company sees a 50% average annual growth in vehicle delivery.
Another factor about Tesla, which has made investors even more interested in the company, is that it announced its launch of robotaxi service next year. Remember, this is an area that is highly lucrative and mostly untapped. Many companies are working to bring a product on the market where passengers can use a taxi without a driver. Companies like Uber, which pay a hefty chunk of money to their drivers, will be highly interested in Tesla’s this service and possibly be early adaptors of this service.
In terms of numbers, here are some eye-popping numbers that the company reported yesterday. Earnings per share came in at $3.22 against the forecast of $2.26. The revenue number was $18.76 billion versus the forecast of $17.80 billion. Tesla’s sales totalled $16.86 billion, an increase of 87 per cent over the same time the previous year. Its gross margins reached a new high of 32.9 per cent, with Tesla posting a $5.54 billion profit in its primary business. Regulatory credits accounted for $679 million in automotive revenue for the quarter.
Stock Market Today
In terms of the market event, traders will be paying close attention to the upcoming speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who is slated to speak at 18:00 GMT. So far, market players are expecting a more hawkish reaction from the Fed in their next meeting, on the back of the comments from some Fed members who are known as extreme doves. For instance, Charles Even, ultra-dove, has also raised his support for an interest rate hike of 50 basis points. Other members like Mary Daly want the Fed to front-load their interest rate monetary policy. Overall, it is safe to say that most market players are expecting not one rate hike of 50 basis points, but we could see two interest rate hikes of 50 basis points from the Fed.
Jerome Powell’s speech will likely bring higher volatility to the stock market. Any element of surprise, not a likely scenario, could through traders off their balance and create massive whipsaw moves in the US stock market.
Oil
Yesterday, we saw oil prices recovering some of their losses, and the price of oil is still in a recovery mode as the major colour for the price trend is green. This is mainly due to the massive drawdown in the US inventory data, which recorded the biggest drawdown reading going back to January 2021. In other words, the US exported the most crude fuel in history, mainly to offset the influence of sanctions imposed by the US on Russia.
When it comes to oil prices, investors are worried about stagflation. This concern has become even more serious after the dire warning by the IMF, which downgraded its growth estimates and increased its inflation forecast. The Russian and Ukrainian conflict remains in focus as the US has announced more sanctions on Russia this week. The European Commission is also working hard to secure the availability of other energy sources to persuade countries like Germany and other EU members to curb their reliance on Russian oil.