Tesla Posts Q4 Miss; Blames Delivery Shortfall, Factory Troubles

shares declined in the extended session Wednesday after the company missed fourth-quarter expectations by a wide margin. The Palo Alto, California-based maker of electric vehicles changed hands recently at $206.70, down nearly 3 percent. Tesla blamed its earnings miss on a delivery shortfall related to shipping problems and weather, as well as on manufacturing difficulties with a new model and with "autopilot functionality." The company's fourth-quarter net loss widened to $107.6 million, or $0.86 a share, from $14.9 million, or $0.14 a share a year earlier. Revenue grew to $956.7 million, from $615.2 million a year earlier. Tesla's adjusted loss equaled -$0.13 a share, on adjusted revenue of $1.1 billion. Wall Street expected adjusted earnings of $0.31 a share on revenue of $1.23 billion. The company's adjusted fourth-quarter gross margin was 26.7 percent, and it forecast a 26 percent adjusted margin for the first quarter. Tesla said it built 11,627 vehicles during the fourth quarter, "thus achieving our production target of 35,000 Model S vehicles in 2014."