The surprise earnings report announced today came after Tesla lost $1.1 billion during the first half of the year. This caused many investors to lose faith in the company, even after it began to boost sales of its vehicles, according to the Associated Press.
Tesla released its third-quarter delivery numbers on Oct. 3, showing the company had delivered 97,000 vehicles, including 79,600 Model 3s and a total of 17,400 of Models S and X. Wall Street analysts had expected the number of vehicles delivered in the third quarter to be 99,000.
The October 3rd delivery report didn’t help Tesla stock, which fell four points. But today’s earnings report helped Tesla shares to recover a big chunk of those losses, with the shares soaring 20 percent to $306 in extended trading.
But the real kicker was how Tesla blew the analyst’s projections out of the water. Here’s what the results were versus analysts’ expectations:
*Adjusted earnings per share of $1.86 vs. expected losses of 42 cents per share
*Revenue of $6.3 billion, vs. expected $6.33 billion, according to Refinitiv consensus estimates
As a matter of fact, according to CNBC, Tesla did the earnings report up in grand style, releasing a glossy 28-page investor update filled with photos from its new factory in Shanghai where Tesla said it’s already begun trial production runs.
In its 3rd-quarter update, Tesla said the “Gigafactory Shanghai was built in 10 months and is ready for production, while it was ~65% less expensive (Capex per unit of capacity) to build than our Model 3 production system in the US.”
Tesla said it was also ahead of schedule on its long-awaited Model Y crossover. The company now says it expects to launch by next summer. At the same time, Tesla says it is planning to make a limited run of its Tesla Semi truck next year and hopes to soon announce the location of its European Gigafactory.
According to Barron’s, Wall Street analysts are divided on Tesla stock. 33 percent have a Buy or equivalent rating, while 33 percent recommend a Sell. Their average price target is $269.19, which is about 6 percent above the stock’s Wednesday closing price. Tesla shares were up 17.6 percent, at $299.50, in after-hours trading.
