Tesla reports $700M Q1 loss

Tesla posted a surprisingly large $702.1 million net loss in the first quarter as sales of its electric cars slumped and demand appeared to be waning.

The company lost $4.10 per share from January through March, when deliveries fell 31% from the fourth quarter. Tesla had warned it would lose money after turning two straight quarterly profits last year for the first time in its 15-year history.

Excluding one-time items and stock-based compensation, the company lost $2.90 per share, worse than Wall Street estimates. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of $1.15 per share. Revenue rose almost 40% over a year ago to $3.5 billion. But it still fell short of analyst estimates of $5.42 billion.

CEO Elon Musk last year predicted quarterly profits in the future. But Tesla had trouble cutting the cost of its Model 3 mass-market electric vehicle.

The company said it ended the quarter with $2.2 billion in cash, $1.5 billion less than the end of last year. Tesla attributed the cash decline to a $920 million bond payment and an increase in the number of vehicles in transit to customers at the end of the quarter, postponing that revenue.

Tesla has lost more than $6 billion since setting out to revolutionize the auto industry 15 years ago, but CEO Elon Musk foresees a profitable future fueled in part by a ride-hailing service made up of electric cars driven by robots.

The mind-blowing concept is something Musk first outlined in a master plan three years ago, but now he believes Tesla’s technology is capable to turning his dream into reality.