Tesla share price slide more than 10% after Q1 deliveries disappoint

Tesla saw its share price fall by more than 10% on Thursday, after telling investors that its Q1 2019 deliveries of vehicles fell by nearly 31% compared to the previous quarter and falling below what many analysts’ weak expectations.

According to Factset, analysts had forecast Tesla to deliver 76,000 vehicles in Q1, but the company only managed 63,000, down from 90,700 in Q4 218.

The US-based electric carmaker blamed the decline in sales on issues arising from its international distribution system, which made deliveries of the Model 3 to Europe and China for the first time.

Tesla share price slides after disappointing first quarter

The news of its poor sales figures was announced late on Wednesday after US financial markets had closed, with its share falling 7% in pre-market trading on Thursday.

However, the electric carmaker has seen its stock tumble more than 15% from a January high on after investors became concerned that the company would lose momentum and be unable to maintain the financial improvements it saw in the latter half of last year.

Tesla expects profits will be ‘negatively impacted’ by lower delivery volumes

Following its disappointing delivery volumes, the electric carmaker said that its expects its profits to be ‘negatively impacted’, but reassured investors that it ended the quarter with sufficient cash in hand.

Given that Tesla vehicle production currently occurs entirely from one factory in the San Francisco Bay Area, but must be delivered to customers all around the world, production could be significantly higher than deliveries, as it was in Q1, when production exceeded deliveries by 22%, the company said.