Tesla reported Wednesday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago, fueled by higher vehicle sales and higher prices per vehicle.
Austin, Texas, tram and the solar panel maker said it made $3.29 billion between July and September.
Excluding specialty items, the company earned $1.05 per share, beating Wall Street estimates of $1 per share, according to data provider FactSet. Revenue rose 56% to a record $21.45 billion, but fell short of the median estimate of $21.98 billion.
Tesla remains firm on its forecast for 50% year-over-year vehicle sales growth over the next few years, confident that demand will remain strong.
“Growth will depend on equipment capacity, plant uptime, operational efficiency and capacity and supply chain stability,” the company said.
But it will take a stellar Q4 sales performance to hit the 50% target.
Earlier this month, Tesla reported a 35% increase in car sales in the July-September period compared with Q2 when the company’s huge factory in China weathered supply chain issues and pandemic constraints.
The company sold 343,830 cars and SUVs in the third quarter compared with 254,695 vehicles delivered between April and June. Tesla said it produced 365,923 vehicles in the July-September period.
Analysts have questioned whether Tesla is experiencing a slowdown in demand for its vehicles, which in the US start at around $49,000.
Up to now, the company has delivered 908,573 vehicles. Last year, the company delivered just over 936,000 vehicles. To increase sales by 50% year-over-year, to about 1.4 million vehicles, the company will have to sell more than 490,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter.
But Tesla said it had higher-than-usual shipments of vehicles at the end of the third quarter and will count as sales when it reaches customers. It says it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find affordable shipping capacity when it needs to move vehicles from the factory to its customers.
The company said it remains focused on increasing vehicle production as quickly as possible by raising weekly construction rates in Fremont, California and Shanghai, and making progress at new plants in Texas and Germany. .
However, Tesla said logistics and parts supply difficulties “remain immediate, albeit improved, challenges.” Battery supply constraints, Tesla said, will be the main limiting factor for electric vehicle market growth in the medium to long term.
However, the company said initial deliveries of Semi truck will start in December.
Shares of Tesla Inc. fell about 3% in extended trading Wednesday after the company’s third-quarter sales fell short of Wall Street estimates. Stocks have lost 37% so far this year, burdened by CEO By Elon Musk $44 billion bid to buy Twitter. Musk previously denied the purchase, alleging that Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform. Twitter is sued, and a Delaware judge gave both sides until October 28 to find out the details. If not, there will be a trial in November.
