Image Credit: Patrick Pleule (via Reuters)
Even as the company claimed it needed more time to ramp up production in its Berlin and Texas factories, Tesla posted a ninth straight quarter profit that beat profit projections but fell slightly short of Wall Street estimates. The company has managed to outdo competition at a time when semiconductor shortages and supply-chain issues have affected car manufacturers worldwide.
Revenue at Elon Musk's electric-vehicle and clean-energy company rose 57% to $13.8 billion, missing estimates of $13.9 billion. Earnings came to $1.86 a share on an adjusted basis, the Palo Alto, California-based automaker said Wednesday. That beat the $1.67 a share average of analysts' estimates.
"We are trying as far as we can to maximize that capacity and to be able to meet the demand that we're receiving," said Zachary Kirkhorn, chief financial officer at Tesla who led the quarterly call with analysts instead of Elon Musk this time. Tesla has been beset with issues in Chinese plants as China grapples with a severe energy crisis caused by shortage of coal. Despite this, Tesla delivered 241,300 cars worldwide in the third quarter, a record for the company.