SHARE OF THE THE WEEK: Investors await Tesla’s fourth-quarter results

Next week, all eyes will be on Tesla when it reports fourth quarter results.

The electric car maker, led by Elon Musk, has had a rough time over the past year, weighed down by a slowdown in China, as well as broader economic headwinds that have plagued its supply chain and consumer spending.

But shares have also come under pressure since Musk’s £38bn takeover of Twitter saw him sell nearly £18bn of his Tesla shares.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, analysts expect revenue of £20 billion – a 40 per cent increase over the same period of 2021.

AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said the stakes are particularly high for Tesla this quarter after it missed Wall Street estimates for deliveries.

The automaker shipped 405,278 cars to customers between October and December, missing Wall Street estimates of 420,000. However, that was still a record and up a third from the same quarter in 2021.

“Earnings are down and this set of results is likely to show more evidence of a consumer that seems to have gone missing over the past year, especially in China,” Hewson explained.

Tesla has started this year with a bang after slashing prices in the US and Europe to boost sales.

In the UK, some prices were reduced by as much as £9,000.

Shares are up 19 percent since the start of 2023, slowly fading away from the more than 60 percent drop over the past year for Tesla stock.