The American electric vehicle giant Tesla released its latest financial report. In addition to lower-than-expected revenue and profits, it also warned that sales growth may slow down this year (2024); Tesla's stock price plunged nearly 5% after the market closed. Comprehensive reports and other foreign media reported that Tesla announced after the U.S. stock market closed on the 24th that revenue in the fourth quarter of last year (2023) increased by 3% year-on-year to approximately US$25.17 billion, slightly lower than the analyst estimate of 25.6 billion calculated by LSEG. In U.S. dollars, adjusted net income per share was 71 cents, which was worse than analysts' forecast of 74 cents. The financial report shows that the gross profit margin calculated according to GAAP standards in the current quarter was 17.6%, down from 17.9% in the previous quarter, and far worse than 23.8% in the same period in 2022; the operating profit margin was 8.2%, although it was 7.6% compared with the previous quarter. It is up, but far lower than the approximately 16.0% in the same period in 2022. Competition in the global electric vehicle market has become increasingly fierce, and high interest rates have affected car purchase intentions. Tesla launched a bloody price war last year to boost sales, but it also hurt profitability and raised concerns among investors. Tesla sold 484,507 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, and delivered more than 1.8 million vehicles for the year, setting a record and achieving its goal. However, Tesla admitted to investors that sales growth this year may be significantly lower than the growth pace achieved last year. According to Yahoo Finance quotations, Tesla's stock price fell slightly by 0.63% on the 24th to close at US$207.83. It has fallen by more than 16% since the beginning of the year: the stock price plunged after the financial report was released, and fell by about 4.8% as of the deadline. Tesla reiterated in its shareholder letter that the production expansion of its pure electric pickup truck Cybertruck will take longer than expected due to the complex manufacturing process of the vehicle. The market is also paying close attention to whether Tesla's new generation model "Model 2" can be launched in 2025. iSeeCars.com analyst Karl Brauer pointed out that the latest financial report reflects that Tesla’s market dominance is weakening and it faces difficulties in attracting mainstream consumers. Tesla and the overall electric vehicle industry will transition from a stage of high growth and high expectations to a stage of moderate growth and predictable growth. At the same time, market competition will become increasingly fierce. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas previously pointed out that global electric vehicle momentum is gradually stagnating and the market is oversupplied. Tesla's outlook for sales and profits in 2024 is expected to be quite conservative. He lowered his price target for Tesla to $345 from $380, but it is still well above Wall Street's average price target of $237. GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson, who has been bearish on Tesla for a long time, recently once again belittled Tesla, believing that its price-to-earnings ratio should be closer to that of traditional car manufacturers such as Ford. Stunning price target of $23.53.