Tesla Motors Inc Shares Surge On Surprise Profit, Higher Delivery Count

Updated on

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) released its third quarter earnings results after closing bell tonight, posting GAAP net income of $22 million or 14 cents per share on $2.3 billion in revenue, which was a 145% year over year increase. Non-GAAP net income was $111 million or 71 cents per share.

Analysts were expecting GAAP losses of 53 cents per share, and adjusted losses of 22 cents per share on $2.34 billion in revenue. However, there’s no real way to make a comparison because the numbers have been all over the place in the last few days. The automaker switched to GAAP reporting, so some analysts didn’t adjust their numbers yet, while others were scrambling to do so at the last minute. FactSet’s consensus estimates and others have been fluctuating wildly in a very short span of time due to the switch.

In last year’s third quarter, Tesla posted GAAP losses of $1.78 per share, adjusted losses of 58 cents per share, and $1.24 billion in sales.

Tesla raises Q3 delivery count

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) was free cash flow positive in the third quarter at $176 million. The automaker said combined net orders for Model S and Model X vehicles grew 68% year over year. Its gross margin rose to 27.7% from 21.6% in the previous quarter. Automotive revenue grew 152% to $2.15 billion, while the automotive gross margin was 29.4%. Model S average price declined 6.5% sequentially due to the lower-priced 60kWh model being introduced.

The company also increased its production levels during the quarter, reaching 25,185 vehicles to mark a 37% increase from the previous quarter and 92% increase from the year-ago quarter.

Tesla said early this month that it delivered 24,500 vehicles during the third quarter, coming out ahead of the consensus at 23,000. The company updated to the final number tonight, which is 24,821 deliveries.

Tesla maintains guidance

The automaker also said earlier this month that deliveries in the fourth quarter will be about what they were in the third quarter or possibly a little higher. It also continues to expect to deliver 50,000 vehicles in the second half of this year. Tesla expects to deliver a little more than 25,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. It also said it remains on track to meet the previous guidance for an improvement of two or three percentage points in its automotive gross margins.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares surged in after-hours trades, climbing by as much as 5.96% to $214.29.

Leave a Comment