The company had already announced that it had delivered a record number of 241,300 vehicles over the period.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla posted record profits for the third straight quarter as Elon Musk’s group managed to ramp up production despite logistical challenges plaguing the auto sector.
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The company had already announced that it had delivered an unprecedented 241,300 vehicles worldwide over the period, up 20% from the previous quarter. “A variety of challenges, from semiconductor shortages to port congestion to power outages, have impacted our ability to operate factories at full capacity”the group acknowledged in a statement. “We believe our supply chain, engineering and production teams have met these global challenges with ingenuity, agility and flexibility unprecedented in the automotive industry”the company added.
Elon Musk had already indicated that he was able to circumvent a good part of the shortage of semiconductors by using new chip designs and rewriting the software accordingly. Other automakers are finding it more difficult to meet these challenges, with General Motors for example having seen its vehicle sales in the United States fall by 33% in the third quarter due to the lack of semiconductors which has forced it, since the beginning of the year, to reduce its production.
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The company’s revenue reached $13.76 billion, up 57% and above analysts’ forecasts ($13.62 billion). The company’s net profit reached $1.6 billion in the period. Excluding exceptional items and reported per share, profit was $1.86, beating expectations ($1.58). The increase in operating profit is “mainly driven by vehicle volume growth and cost reduction”Tesla pointed out.
Tesla and Bitcoin
Tesla’s revenue reached $13.76 billion between July and September, up 57% and above analysts’ forecasts (13.62 billion). The company’s net profit reached $1.6 billion in the period. Excluding exceptional items and reported per share, it was displayed at 1.86 dollars, exceeding expectations (1.58 dollars). The increase in operating profit is “mainly related to vehicle volume growth and cost reduction,” Tesla pointed out. The group has thus managed to increase the gross margin from its automotive activities to 30.5%, against 28.4% in the previous quarter.
Tesla, which had created the surprise at the start of the year by announcing that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, on the other hand, once again saw this investment weigh on its results. After earning $101 million in the first quarter thanks to virtual currency, the group had to record a charge of $23 million in the second quarter and then $51 billion in the third.
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Increase deliveries by 50%
Tesla also continues to see the profits from the sale to other companies of the carbon credits granted to it because its cars do not emit pollutants dry up: the income generated by these operations reached 279 million dollars in the third quarter, compared with $354 million in the second quarter and $518 million in the first. The automaker, which announced in January that it wanted to increase its deliveries by an average of 50% per year for several years, has not changed this forecast. “The rate of growth will depend on the capacity of our equipment, the efficiency of our operations and the possibilities and stability of the supply chain”Tesla pointed out.
The action dropped 0.6% in electronic trading following the close of trading. But it is up 23% since the start of the year, after jumping more than 700% in 2020.
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