Tesla on Wednesday reported a jump in quarterly profit as sales of its electric cars skyrocketed in the three months ending September.
The electric-car maker says it made $3.3 billion in the third quarter, up from $1.6 billion a year earlier and close to the record profit it reported in the first three months. five. It reported revenue of $21.5 billion, up from $13.8 billion.
This month, Tesla said it produced more than 365,000 vehicles in the third quarter, up 50 percent from a year earlier. Sales were also strong, but investors are increasingly concerned about signs that demand for the company’s luxury cars may be waning.
Tesla sold about 20,000 fewer cars than it did in the third quarter, and its wait times have been reduced. Sales could come under pressure as the automaker has raised prices significantly in recent months as interest rates on auto loans have also surged, making new cars even more expensive.
The company’s third-quarter profit fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations, and its shares fell about 4% in extended trading on Wednesday.
Jesse Cohen, an analyst at Investing.com, said: “Tesla’s bad quarter is the latest sign that growing macroeconomic uncertainty is having an impact on demand for vehicles. their electricity. He added that demand for the company’s cars in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, has “slower than expected in the face of increasing competition from EV companies.” local”.
Mr. Cohen said production problems at Tesla’s Berlin plant, which opened this year, could make it difficult for the company to meet its goal of increasing deliveries by 50% this year.
On a conference call with analysts, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk dismissed concerns about slowing demand. “We will sell every car we make,” he said. He also said Tesla’s Berlin plant is currently producing 2,000 vehicles per week, and that the Austin plant will soon reach that speed. Tesla builds cars at plants in Berlin, California, China, and Texas.
Musk said Tesla has seen signs of slowing economic activity in China and Europe while the United States is “actually looking pretty healthy.”
In his branding style, the executive also said that Tesla could become the most valuable company in the world by far, surpassing Apple and Saudi Aramco. And he said the company is considering buying back some of its shares.
Tesla’s stock price has fallen more than 40% this year, in part due to concerns about demand for its luxury cars. However, the stock is also struggling as investors worry that Musk will have to sell some of his shares in the company to pay for his Twitter business. Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, then sought to back out of the deal before changing his mind again and saying he would complete the acquisition.
On Wednesday, Mr. Musk acknowledged that he paid Twitter more than investors thought the company was worth but that he expected a significant increase in its value. “The long-term potential, in my view, is an order of magnitude larger than its present value,” he said.
This month, Musk also made remarks about the war in Ukraine that worried Western investors and policymakers. He proposed a peace plan that reflected Russia’s territorial ambitions.
Tesla has managed to increase car production despite global shortage of computer chips and other auto parts. But it is still facing some production challenges. The company’s assembly plant in Berlin halted production in July and caught fire in September.
The company recently said it expects to begin production of a battery-powered pickup on December 1. Mr. Musk launch truck in 2017said it will go into production in 2019. On Wednesday, he said the first trucks will be delivered in December and the company will eventually aim to produce 50,000 units per year for the North market. America.
Another key product, the Cybertruck, which has been repeatedly delayed, will enter production next year, Musk said.
