After Tesla announced that it broke its previous production and delivery records during the second quarter, Elon Musk’s automobile company’s shares jumped up 7% on July 2 in after-market trading.
Tesla delivered 95,200 cars in its second quarter, which ended June 30. That is a 51.1% increase over its first quarter, which was quite weak. The amount of cars delivered also beat out its previous record of 90,700 deliveries, which was the fourth quarter of 2018.
All eyes in the industry are watching Tesla’s deliveries number, which is a close reflection of sales, and show an accurate representation of how many cars were actually delivered to customers.
The company delivered 77,550 Model 3 cars, their most popular model. Analysts had estimated it would sell 74,100 Model 3 cars. According to FactSet data, combined deliveries for the Model S sedans and Model X SUVs were 17,650. Analysts beat estimates of 16,600.
Ives told CNBC, “Delivery numbers are important, but we need to see the tea leaves look good for the second half.”
The company is facing an uphill battle. Ives explained that their target for 2019 is “still an Everest task, especially with competition coming at them from all angles. The real question is going to be, is this sustainable?”
The company had told investors to expect to “deliver between 90,000 and 100,000 vehicles in Q2. Although it is possible to deliver a higher number of vehicles.” In addition to delivering the vehicles to customers, the company did deliver on that promise.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s orders aren’t fully represented in its delivery numbers, because that doesn’t happen until a buyer takes possession of their new car. The company explained that currently there are 7,400 vehicles in transit, but have not officially delivered. Those care sales will appear in its third-quarter report, which is heating up. The company suggested it will have a strong third quarter as it has a backlog of orders.
Tesla has been plagued with transportation issues, but Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said, “Challenges remain, but this is a step in the right direction.”
Ives added, “The numbers were above even the bull estimates and shows a clear rebound for the company. This is a feather in the cap for Tesla.”
According to data compiled by FactSet, Tesla surpassed analysts’ estimates of 91,000 cars delivered.
In the first quarter of 2019, Tesla only delivered 63,000 vehicles. Tesla dealt with several problems in regards to transporting cars all around the world from its factory in Fremont, California. Several questions arose including waning customer demand.
Announcing the results of its highly anticipated second quarter, Tesla said, “In addition, we made significant progress streamlining our global logistics and delivery operations at higher volumes, enabling cost efficiencies and improvements to our working capital position.”
Previously Musk had set a company-wide email explaining that the company was gearing up to deliver a record number of vehicles, but urged them to keep working hard to follow through and keep the company on course.
But Tesla will have a lot of competition to deal with in the coming days in terms of high-end sports cars. Several companies like Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar are investing billions of dollars to develop their own electric vehicles. In May, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz began taking orders for new battery-electric vehicles. The plan is to roll out more models in the future. Jaguar brought out the I-Pace, an all-electric SUV, at the New York Auto Show in April. The I-Pace swept the industry awards at the auto show.
Over the last year, Tesla’s stock has lost almost a third of its value. According to CNBC, the company’s market cap is at about $40 billion.
Tesla is certainly having a promising second quarter, but how it will do in the rest of 2019 remains to be seen.