U.S.-based electric vehicle maker Tesla posted strong Q4 2013 earnings even as the investors gave thumbs up to its robust future outlook, making its stock jump 12 percent.
On Wednesday, February 19, Tesla announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2013. The company revealed that it earned $46 million or 33 cents per share, excluding one-time items, during Q4 2013. The results beat Wall Street predictions as analysts forecasted earnings of 21 cents a share.
The net loss of Tesla also narrowed down to $16.2 million, or 13 cents per share when compared to $90 million, or 79 cents a share, in Q4 2012.
The company is well known for making the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan, which is priced at $70,000 and up. Tesla said it sold and delivered 6,892 Model S in Q4 2013, beating analysts' estimates. The electric car maker also said that it expects to deliver more than 35,000 Model S vehicles in 2014, which is an increase of more than 55 percent from the 22,477 cars delivered in 2013.
Tesla said it is working hard to increase its car production and is planning to produce about 1,000 cars per week in 2014 as the company expands factory capacity and address bottlenecks with suppliers. Tesla said that production in the first quarter of 2014 is expected to be 7,400 vehicles with deliveries of about 6,400 cars.
"Model S customers are proving that owning a well-engineered electric vehicle can be a superior ownership experience over a gasoline-powered car. Our rapidly growing customer base has driven Model S almost 200 million cumulative miles, and we believe than more than 80% of our customers are using their Model S as their primary vehicle," said Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk and Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja, regarding the Model S, in a joint statement to shareholders.
Tesla said that it will make "substantial investments" in China this year and Model S deliveries to China will begin this spring. The Model S in China is expected to have the same price tag as in the U.S.
The car maker suggests that its operating expenses and capital spending will increase considerably this year as it will expand production capacity for both the Model S and Model X crossover vehicle, invest in stores and Supercharger infrastructure, and finish development of the Model X.
Tesla is planning to get the Model X prototypes on the road towards the end of this year and is expecting to begin deliveries to customers in the spring of 2015.
On Wednesday, Tesla's shares dipped 4.94 percent to close at $193.64. However, the shares saw some late action following the release of the earnings report and jumped nearly 12 percent to $217 during after-hours trading. On Thursday, the stock were up 11.68 percent at $216.25 during pre-market trading.
