Tesla Profit Tops Street, "highly Confident" To Meet Delivery Outlook, Shares Up

(RTTNews) - Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) surged 12% in extended trading session on Wednesday after the luxury electric car maker reported a surprise third-quarter profit, which trumped Wall Street estimates. Looking forward, the company said it is "highly confident" to exceed 360,000 deliveries this year.

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla reported third-quarter profit of $143 million or $0.80 per share, compared to last year's profit of $311 million or $1.82 per share.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.91 per share, up from $3.02 per share last year. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected loss of $0.42 per share for the quarter.

Tesla's revenues for the quarter surged dropped 8% to $6.30 billion from $6.82 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $6.33 billion.

According to the company, the percentage of leased vehicles has tripled which led to revenue decrease.

In the third quarter, Tesla said it delivered 79,703 Model 3s to customers, up 42% from last year and 3% from previous quarter. Tesla said it built 79,837 Model 3 in the third quarter, up 50% year-over-year and 10% from last quarter. Model S/X deliveries were 17,483 down 37% from last year and 1% from previous quarter.

Looking ahead, Tesla said deliveries should increase sequentially and annually, with some expected fluctuations from seasonality. The company said it is "highly confident" to exceed 360,000 deliveries this year.

TSLA closed Wednesday's trading at $254.68, down $0.90 or 0.35%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, gained $32.21 or 12.65% in the after-hours trade.