Tesla soars as Model 3 paces record quarter for deliveries

Bloomberg

Tesla Inc shares surged as a record quarter of deliveries alleviated the worst fears about demand for the Elon Musk-led company’s electric vehicles.
The Model 3 maker handed over 95,200 cars to customers in the three months that ended in June, exceeding the previous best mark set in the last quarter of 2018. Tesla’s delivery count exceeded all but one analyst’s estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
Tesla shares jumped as much as 7.1 percent during US pre-market hours. The stock had fallen 33 percent for the year through the end of regular trading in New York, in part due to demand concerns that the company’s billionaire chief executive officer has repeatedly disputed.
While the results go a long way towards contradicting Tesla’s doubters, it remains to be seen whether this level of demand is sustainable — or profitable.
The $3,750 US federal tax credit buyers were eligible for was cut by half beginning from July 1, and deliveries tailed off the last time the incentive shrank. Musk also has said the company will post a loss for the quarter, then report positive earnings in the second half.
Tesla also left out of its statement any mention of its full-year forecast for 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries, a projection it re-affirmed in its release a quarter ago.
Tesla representatives didn’t respond when asked whether the company is sticking with its guidance. It will have to average more than 100,000 units per quarter in the second half to reach the low end of the range.
“The stock and future of Tesla all reside on the sustainable demand going forward and elusive profitability,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a report.
Musk, 48, urged employees to “go all out” in the final days of Tesla’s first full quarter in which Model 3s made their way to buyers in Europe and China. Overseas demand contributed to deliveries of the sedan jumping to 77,550 units, more than all the vehicles Tesla handed over in the first quarter.
“The big picture is that something is happening around electric vehicles,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures and longtime Tesla bull. “The Model 3 is on fire.”