Tesla quarterly report shows no change in Bitcoin holdings in Q4

In the fourth quarter, electric car maker Tesla did not buy or sell bitcoin held on its balance sheet, nor did it record any impairment, according to its quarterly financial statements.

The value of bitcoin held by Tesla (TSLA) at the end of the fourth quarter remained unchanged at $1.26 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, electric car maker Tesla said in its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday.

Tesla did not buy or sell any bitcoin during the quarter, nor did it record any impairment of the value of its bitcoin holdings, as the price of bitcoin was largely flat from the end of the third quarter to the end of the fourth quarter.

During the third quarter, Tesla also did not increase or decrease its bitcoin holdings, but was required to report a $51 million impairment to reflect the decline in cryptocurrency prices.

Under the accounting rules for crypto assets, companies must report an impairment if the price of an asset falls within a quarter. But if the price goes up, it won't be reported as a gain on the balance sheet.

Tesla announced in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. Later in the first quarter, the company trimmed its bitcoin position by 10%, a sale that added $272 million to its earnings for the quarter. Tesla did not buy or sell any bitcoin in the second quarter.

Overall, Tesla's adjusted fourth-quarter earnings per share came in at $2.54, compared with analysts' expectations of $2.36, according to FactSet. Revenue came in at $17.7 billion versus expectations of $17.1 billion.

Tesla's shares initially fell about 4% after the earnings report, but have since recovered. Shares recently edged up to $939.51.