Tesla shares bounce on fourth consecutive quarterly profit
Tesla has beat analyst estimates to report its fourth consecutive quarterly profit, inching it closer to entering the S&P 500 index.
It posted earnings per share of 50 cents for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $2.31 a year earlier.
Tesla is now able to qualify for entry into the S&P 500. At a market value of almost $300bn, it would be one of the most valuable entrants in the index’s history.
Its shares rose more than seven per cent in after-hours trading on the news, having already jumped over 275 per cent in 2020 alone.
The electric carmaker reported quarterly revenue of $6.04bn, beating estimates of $5.4bn but still falling from $6.35bn a year earlier.
Tesla was aided by better-than-expected delivery figures for its cars, after it announced it had delivered more than 90,000 vehicles in the quarter — defying a wider industry downturn.
But while vehicle deliveries increased 2.5 per cent on a quarterly basis, production dropped nearly 20 per cent. Tesla had previously predicted it would deliver at least 500,000 vehicles by the end of the year.
Its main Fremont plant was shut for six weeks earlier this year due to lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic, putting a dampener on production numbers.
Chief executive Elon Musk yesterday qualified for a major $2.1bn payout, after Tesla’s six-month average market capitalisation surpassed $150bn and triggered the vesting of the second of 12 tranches of his 2018 stock options.
Tesla said in a statement: “We believe the progress we made in the first half of this year has positioned us for a successful second half of 2020.
“Production output of our existing facilities continues to improve to meet demand, and we are adding more capacity.”