Jefferies on Tesla: Lowered Guidance Was Not Unexpected

Jefferies & Company has published a research report on Tesla Motors

after the company announced lowered guidance Tuesday morning. In the report, Jefferies wrote, "For the past several weeks, speculation has been building that TSLA was producing and delivering cars more slowly than required to meet its 3Q shipment guidance, based on online customer discussion regarding vehicle delivery times. TSLA has now confirmed that 3Q Model S production is expected to be 300+ units, with deliveries between 200-225 units, vs. previous expectations of deliveries of 500 units in 3Q. TSLA also expects between 2,500-3,000 deliveries in 4Q, for total 2012 deliveries of 2,700 at the low end to 3,225 at the high end. Revenue guidance is correspondingly lowered to a range of $44-$46mn in 3Q and $400-440mn in 2012. Gross margin is also guided negative for 3Q and expected to turn positive in 4Q." Jefferies & Company maintained its Buy rating and $39 price target on Tesla Motors, which is currently trading down 6.39 percent from Monday's $30.66 closing price.