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Tesla Inc. late Wednesday reported another record quarter of sales and profit, blowing past Wall Street estimates even though it said its factories continue to run below capacity due to supply-chain problems.
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said it earned $3.2 billion, or $2.86 a share, in the first quarter, compared with earnings of $438 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Adjusted for one-time items, the EV maker earned $3.22 a share.
Revenue rose 81% to $18.6 billion from $10.39 billion a year ago, thanks to higher average car prices and growth in vehicle sales, the company said.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to report adjusted earnings of $2.26 a share on sales of $17.85 billion.
The stock rallied more than 4% after the results.
“Public interest in a sustainable future continues to rise, and we remain focused on growing as fast as is reasonably possible,” Tesla said in a letter to investors.
Supply-chain problems and raw-material prices costs that have increased “multiple-fold” recently continue to weigh, the EV maker said.
“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through the rest of 2022,” the company said.
Tesla said that a spike in COVID-19 cases resulted in a temporary shutdown of its Shanghai factory, and affected parts of the company’s supply chain.
“Although limited production has recently restarted, we continue to monitor the situation closely,” the company said.
The ramp-up in the newer Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany, factories also will depend on the supply-chain snags, Tesla said: “Factory ramps take time, and Gigafactory Austin and Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg will be no different.”
The company also vowed to release its Full-Self Driving suite of advanced driver assistance systems this year to all U.S. customers that opted for the $10,000 package “before the end of this year.”
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other Tesla executives will be on a conference call with analysts at 5:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss the results. The call will be webcast.
Musk made a $43 billion bid to buy Twitter last week, a move that some analysts questioned could distract him from running Tesla.
Tesla stock has gained about 36% in the past 12 months, which compares with gains of about 8% for the S&P 500 index
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