Tesla Q3 trounces analyst estimates

There were numerous green lights in the carmaker's earnings release.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) posted its latest quarterly figures after market close on Wednesday, and the shares are trading up in response.

For the company's third quarter of fiscal 2020, revenue rose by 39% on a year-over-year basis to $8.77 billion. On the bottom line, non-GAAP (adjusted) net profit doubled and then some, to $874 million ($0.76 per share) from the year-ago result of $342 million.

Both figures came in well above analyst estimates. On average, prognosticators were modeling a far lower per-share adjusted net profit of $0.56, and they believed Tesla would only book $8.26 billion in revenue.

The company's results were helped to no small degree by growth in vehicle deliveries that was well in the double digits. The company shipped 15,275 units of its premium Model S sedan and Model X SUV; that number was 44% higher year over year. Even better, deliveries of the comparatively inexpensive Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV increased 55% to 124,318.

During the quarter, production in both categories also rose -- dramatically, in the case of Model S/X. In Q3 the company manufactured 16,992 of these models, 169% higher than in the same period of 2019. As for Model 3/Y, that increase was 69% (to 128,044).

While the company's battery segment remains small in relation to vehicles, it is also growing. In terms of megawatt hours of storage deployed, that business grew by 81% to 759 MWh in Q3.

In late afternoon trading on Thursday, Tesla stock was up by 1.6%, eclipsing the gains of the broader equities market.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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