Ferrari stock races higher on upbeat results as luxury automaker nets $115K in profit per car
Ferrari stock (RACE) zoomed higher after the Italian luxury automaker reported results that topped expectations and guidance that surged past investor expectations. In addition, the company’s well-heeled clientele likely shields the company from tariff pressures coming from the Trump administration.
Global sales for the fourth quarter rose 14% to 1.74 billion euros ($1.8 billion) from a year ago, topping estimates of 1.64 billion euros ($1.7 billion) as compiled by Bloomberg. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) hit 2.14 euros ($2.22), also topping street estimates of 1.88 euros ($1.95), with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) climbing 15% to 643 million euros ($666.5 million), about 20 million euros ($20.7 million) more than expected.
Ferrari shares were up nearly 9% in early trading.
“Quality of revenues over volumes: I believe this best explains our outstanding financial results in 2024, thanks to a strong product mix and a growing demand for personalizations,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said in the earnings release. “On these solid foundations, we expect further robust growth in 2025, that will allow us to reach one year in advance the high-end of most of our profitability targets for 2026.”
Ferrari said its strong results led to 2025 guidance hikes with net revenues seen at more than 7 billion euros ($7.2 billion), versus the 6.7 billion euros ($6.94 billion) seen previously, with adjusted EBITDA of more than 2.68 billion euros ($2.78 billion), compared to 2.56 billion euros ($2.65 billion) earlier.
These figures would project an EBITDA margin of 38.3% for Ferrari, making the automaker the envy of the industry where margins usually tally in the mid to high single digits. For instance, GM's (GM) EBIT-adjusted margin was 5.3% in the fourth quarter.
Indeed, despite sales of only 13,752 units, its high margins led to sales of 13.75 billion euros ($14.25 billion) for the quarter, or a whopping 111,000 euros ($115,000) profit per car sold.
Ferrari’s performance in the US and Europe helped the automaker overcome weakness in China, where unit sales fell 33.3% in 2024 versus a year ago. Ferrari only sees 8% of sales from China, but it sees a quarter of sales coming from North America.
Though not called out by Ferrari in its release, the probability of tariffs on goods coming from the EU would normally be considered a headwind; however, for goods that cost around $500,000 on average, the addition of 10% to 20% more may not likely dissuade these buyers from purchasing.
Read more: What are tariffs, and how do they affect you?
