Tesla beats Wall Street expectations with Q4 profit
- Tesla earned $386 million during the fourth quarter of 2019.
- The company's adjusted earnings amounted to $2.14 per share on revenue of $7.4 billion.
- Financial analysts had expected an adjusted gain of $1.74 share and $7.1 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.
- The results sent Tesla's shares up 7% in after-hours trading.
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Tesla earned $386 million during the fourth quarter of last year, the electric-car maker said on Wednesday. The results sent Tesla's shares up 7% in after-hours trading.
The company's adjusted earnings amounted to $2.14 per share on revenue of $7.4 billion. Financial analysts had expected an adjusted gain of $1.74 share and $7.1 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Tesla earned a 18.8% gross margin during the quarter. Analysts had predicted an 18.3% gross margin.
The company's fourth-quarter results represented an improvement from the prior quarter, when it made $1.91 per share and $6.3 billion in revenue, and the fourth quarter of 2018, when it made $1.93 per share and $7.23 billion in revenue.
Since Tesla released its third-quarter results in October, its stock price has more than doubled, from $255 to $581 when markets closed on Wednesday. In addition to its surprise third-quarter profit, Tesla's shares have been buoyed by record sales in 2019 and the rapid construction of its factory in Shanghai, which began delivering vehicles to customers at the end of last year.
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