Twitter Gets Offended After Reuters Reports that Tesla Missed Q1 Wall Street Estimates

Twitter didn’t like that Reuters on Sunday reported that electric carmaker Tesla had missed its delivery target once again, and deployed its ‘Context’ feature to “fact check” the headline.

Reuters’ report and social media caption had the headline “Tesla misses delivery estimates as price cuts fail to lure buyers,” but the headline has since been revised to “Tesla posts record quarterly deliveries after price cuts, up 4% from Q4” and the tweet deleted.

While Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that the headline is “deceptive,” Reuters referenced expectations from “Refinitiv data based on seven analysts,” as well as FactSet’s survey of Wall Street analysts as reported by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

The news outlet also updated its report to include estimates by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg which expected 421,164 vehicles would be shipped. 

Actual deliveries are at 412,180 for Model 3 and Y vehicles, and 10,695 for Model S and X luxury vehicles in the first quarter of 2023. The total number is up 4% from the last quarter of 2022, and up 36% year on year.

The increase in deliveries is seen as a result of the price cuts in January. Tesla cut prices by as much as 20% globally after it missed Wall Street delivery estimates for 2022.

“If they wouldn’t have done the price cut, it would have been ugly. I think what it tells you is the economy is getting tough,” Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster said on Sunday.

Also in January, Musk said that the company could achieve up to 2 million deliveries this year, up 52% from last year’s 1.3 million. Analysts are seeing it to be more in the neighborhood of 1.8 million.

The company saw its production once again exceeding deliveries at 440,808, with the production for luxury vehicles Model S and X at 19,437.

Information for this briefing was found via Twitter, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.