Tesla Inc. beat Wall Street’s quarterly revenue and earnings estimates as the electric-car maker raises prices in response to inflation, also offsetting the impact of the factory lockdown in shanghai.
Tesla has been an outlier since the outbreak of the pandemic, posting record deliveries and profits for several quarters while competitors facing global supply chain problems have halted production.
“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters, while the supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue for the rest of 2022,” Tesla, whose shares They were up 4% in after-hours trading.
Tesla said chip shortages and recent Covid-19 outbreaks have been weighing on its supply chain and factory operations, while prices for some raw materials have surged in recent months.
Tesla raised its prices in China, the United States and other countries after Chief Executive Elon Musk said in March that the company faced significant inflationary pressure in raw materials and logistics in the context of the war in Ukraine.
The world’s most valuable automaker said revenue was $18.8 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, versus estimates of $17.8 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. This represents an increase of 81% compared to the previous year.
Musk offered to buy Twitter last week, raising concerns that he would be distracted from Tesla’s operations as the company ramps up production at new factories in Berlin and Texas.
The new factories will be key to meeting demand and reducing reliance on its largest China plant, which is slowly recovering from lockdown measures.
There are concerns that Musk could sell Tesla shares or borrow against a company paper issue to fund his $43 billion bid to buy Twitter.