Tesla stock has been on the rise all day, in part, because investors were expecting the EV maker to report a profit for the second quarter. They got their wish as the company reported $104 million, or 50 cents per share, in net income on $6.03 billion in revenue.
For Q2, its adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.2 billion, resulting in a margin of 20%, which likely only to make the investment community pretty happy. The company also squirreled away $535 million, raising its total cash and cash equivalents to $8.6 billion.
They should be pleased as the profits came despite lower production levels both on a comparable period basis, which was down slightly, and quarter over quarter, which fell 20 percent. Through the first six months, production is down 5%, the company reported.
(Texas offers Tesla $80M in incentives for new gigafactory.)
“Our business has shown strong resilience during these unprecedented times,” the company told shareholders in the earnings letter. “Despite the closure of our main factory in Fremont for nearly half the quarter, we posted our fourth sequential GAAP profit in Q2 2020, while generating positive free cash flow of $418 million.”
Even though production was down overall, Model 3 and Model Y production was up on a year-over-year basis, albeit by just a few thousand units (75,946 versus 72,531). However, the Model Y was not available during that year-ago period so it appears the company has ramped up production of the new offering quickly.
The company built 6,326 Model S and X vehicles during the second quarter, which was down significantly when compared with Q2 2019. It was also down 59% compared with the first quarter of this year. Again, much of that would be attributable to the closure of the California plant for two months as well as the introduction of the Model Y into the mix.
(CEO Musk sees big growth coming soon for Tesla.)
Production is good, but deliveries are where the money is at, and the automaker delivered more than 90,000 vehicles during the second quarter, including 80,277 Model 3 sedans and Model Ys. That’s a 5% increase compared with Q1 and 3% year-over-year.
The profitability and production numbers are impressive given the current automotive climate. However, the company’s delivery goals are lofty.
“We have the capacity installed to exceed 500,000 vehicle deliveries this year, despite recent production interruptions,” the company noted. “While achieving this goal has become more difficult, delivering half a million vehicles in 2020 remains our target.”
(Tesla CEO Musk looking for a new site for a new U.S. Gigafactory.)
The company reported it can produce 400,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles at its Fremont, California plant, plus 90,000 Model S and Model X sedans and utes. The company can also build 200,000 Model 3 sedans at its plant in Shanghai. Given the popularity of the Model 3 in China, passing 500,000 certain seems possible.
The only laughs now are aimed at the short sellers.