Tesla faces the test of turning more sales into solid profits

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Deliveries of new Tesla vehicles began strongly in 2020, thanks to a successful increase in production China and continued strong demand for its electric cars in a busier market.

But when Elon MuskThe vehicle maker reports Monday of its latest quarterly earnings, Wall Street’s focus will shift if it can turn higher sales into more consistent and robust profit margins.

Tesla’s strong demand for cars was confirmed earlier this month when it reported 184,800 vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, 10% above expectations. This occurred despite a drop of more than 80% in sales of previous S and X models before the release of new versions of the cars.

Prosperous deliveries have fueled hopes that Tesla’s revenue during the first quarter will exceed the $ 10.4 billion most analysts have projected, up from just under $ 6 billion the previous year.

However, the low sales of its older and more profitable models are one of the factors clouding the profit image at an unusually complicated time for the company. He shortage of chips faced by the entire automotive industry has been one of the concerns and has come at a time when Tesla is already facing challenges preparing its supply chain to handle new models and production facilities. The higher costs of the supply chain were one of the problems of the disappointing profit performance that Tesla reported in the last months of 2020.

Other factors that complicate the picture and may lead to higher costs include preparations for the start of production at the new plants in Berlin and Texas this year, the recent introduction of the Y model in China and the planned launch of collection and semi-trucks.

For the first quarter, most analysts expect Tesla to report a gross profit margin for automotive operations approaching approximately 24.1% in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted earnings before interest are expected, depreciation and amortization reach about $ 1.8 billion, double the level seen a year earlier.

Pro forma earnings per share are expected to reach 79 cents, almost double the 41 cents a year earlier.

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