Tesla misses estimates for quarterly deliveries; shares fall

Tesla missed market estimates for third-quarter deliveries on Monday as planned upgrades at its factories forced production halts, sending its shares down 2.4% in early trading.

The electric-vehicle maker handed over 435,059 vehicles in the three months to Sept. 30, down nearly 7% from the preceding quarter, but said its target to deliver 1.8 million vehicles this year remained unchanged.

An LSEG poll of eight analysts estimated deliveries of 459,949 vehicles, with the lowest at 442,000 and the highest at 511,405.

The electric vehicle market has seen a slowdown in the United States, although there are signs of growth, Canalys Research said in its report.

"While Tesla remains a dominant force in the US EV market for 2023, there is an increasing demand for a wider range of EV options to satisfy the growing consumer interest in electric vehicles," said Ashwin Amberkar, analyst at the market research firm.

The world's most valuable automaker produced 430,488 vehicles in the third quarter, compared with 479,700 in the second quarter and 365,923 a year earlier.