Tesla Inc. reported a sixth consecutive quarter of profit and sales beat late Wednesday, but earnings came below Wall Street’s expectation and the share fell to 7% in after-hours trading.
Tesla TSLA,
said it earned $ 270 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared to $ 105 million, or 11 cents a share, in the quarter last year. Adapted for one-time items, the Silicon Valley automaker earns 80 cents a share.
Revenue rose 46% to $ 10.74 billion from $ 7.38 billion a year ago, thanks in part to “significant growth” in deliveries, the company said.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $ 1.02 per share on sales of $ 10.47 billion.
The average selling price of its vehicles fell by 11% year-on-year as the mix continued to shift to the cheaper Model 3 and Model Y of its luxury Model S and Model X vehicles, the company said in a letter to shareholders said.
Tesla also shied away from a hard clue for sales. The company said it ‘simplifies our approach to 2021 guidelines’ to focus on long-term goals.
Tesla plans to increase production capacity “as quickly as possible”, and over a “multi-year horizon” it expects to achieve an average growth of 50% per year in vehicle deliveries.
“In some years we can grow faster, which we expect to be the case in 2021,” he said.
A 50% growth period means the delivery of about 750,000 vehicles this year, which would compare to a little less than 500,000 cars delivered in 2020, a year plagued by factory outages and delays due to the pandemic.
According to FactSet analysts, deliveries are expected to be around 800,000 vehicles for this year.
The company said it remains on track to launch its own battery cells in factories in Germany and Texas this year. It is also on track to sell its commercial truck, the Semi, by the end of the year.
Tesla shares have risen nearly 700% over the past 12 months, compared to rising by about 17% for the S&P 500 index SPX,
Earlier this year, the stock won its longest run ever.