Tesla Motors Reports Surprise Profit, Shares Up 5%

(RTTNews) - Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), Wednesday reported a profit for the third quarter beating Wall Street estimates by a large margin, driven primarily by record production and deliveries. Shares of the company gained over 5 percent in extended hours after the company reaffirmed its delivery target for 2016.

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla reported third-quarter profit of $21.88 million or $0.14 per share, compared to last year's loss of $229.88 million or $1.78 per share. This is Tesla's second quarterly profit in its history as a public company.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.71 per share, compared to adjusted loss of $1.35 per share last year. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.09 per share for the quarter.

Tesla's revenues for the quarter surged 145 percent to $2.30 billion from $936.79 million last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.35 billion.

Tesla said it delivered 24,821 vehicles in the third quarter, 114 percent from last year and 300 more vehicles than its outlook.

Deliveries comprised of 16,047 Model S and 8,774 Model X vehicles. Tesla manufactures two all-electric cars-- the Model S sedan and the Model X, which was released last September. The company has also unveiled its low-cost electric variant Model 3 early this year, which is planned to ship in 2017.

Moving ahead, Tesla affirmed its plans to deliver 50,000 new vehicles in second half of 2016, with deliveries over 25,000 during the fourth quarter.

Tesla said it is on on track deliver Model 3 in second half of 2017. Tesla expects capital expenditures in 2016 to be about $1.8 billion as the company continues to focus on capital efficiency.

TSLA closed Wednesday's trading at $202.24, down $0.10 or 0.05%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, gained $10.92 or 5.40% in the after-hours trade.