Tesla has released their Q3 2020 update statement before the earnings call later this afternoon, and along with record delivery and production numbers have posted equally strong earnings.
The strong earnings continue what is now a 5 quarter streak of profits. Earlier this month Tesla announced a new record of 139,000 vehicles delivered around the world.
“The third quarter of 2020 was a record quarter on many levels. Over the past four quarters, we generated over $1.9B of free cash flow while spending $2.4B on new production capacity, service centers, Supercharging locations and other capital investments. While we took additional SBC expense in Q3, our GAAP operating margin reached 9.2%.”
Here are the key figures:
Earnings
Tesla shareholders saw earnings of $0.76 per share versus estimates of as much as $0.65 per share.
Revenue
Tesla reported automotive revenue of $7.611 billion, growing by 42% year over year (YoY). Total revenue increased 39% YoY to 8.771 billion.
Developing, this story will be updated.
Full Self-Driving
In the quarterly update, Tesla confirmed the first version of the new FSD software was released to Early Access Program (EAP) users. They also included this image of how the neural net “sees” an intersection based on the multiple camera angles available from the car.
Tesla also notes that with this release, the remaining features of the self-driving suite will be able to be released.
Vehicle Production
Tesla vehicle production at its facilities in Fremont and Giga Shanghai increased by 76% compared to the previous quarter. Part of that growth was due to the fact Fremont was shut down for 2 months during Q2, but the numbers are still very impressive.
Fremont now has a Model 3/Y production capacity of 500,000 vehicles per year. Tesla expects to reach full capacity towards the end of 2020 or early 2021.
Giga Shanghai has increased production capacity to 250,000 units per year. The automaker notes that due to reduced costs thanks to the new LFP batteries and locally sourced parts, a third production shift was added to the factory.
As of publication, Tesla shares have risen 3% in after-hours trading to nearly $430.
We’ll learn more after the earnings call, scheduled to take place at 2:30pm PST.
