Tesla reports net profit of USD311.5 million for the first time in two years – cash reserve up by USD731 million

Elon Musk has delivered on his promise to make Tesla profitable before the end of 2018, with the company’s latest financial results for the third quarter (Q3 2018) proving it. For the first time in two years, the company managed to secure a net profit of USD311.5 million, which is the most Tesla has ever made in a single quarter and a far cry from the USD742.7 million loss in Q2 2018.

Tesla’s total revenue climbed to USD6.8 billion in Q3 2018 (from USD4 billion in Q2 2018) on the back of encouraging sales of the Model 3, with 56,065 units delivered in the period. Revenue from automotive sales alone stood at USD5.9 billion compared to USD3.1 billion. For the final quarter of the year, Tesla will have a larger cash reserve of about USD2.97 billion compared to the USD2.24 billion it had by the end of Q2 2018.

Looking at the company’s spending, capital expenditure (capex) continued to decrease in size to USD510 million from USD610 million. It was previously announced that Tesla’s total capex for 2018 would be slightly below USD2.5 billion as part of efforts to save money, and it looks like the company is keeping to its word. For Q4 2018, Tesla will have to spend for the purchase of land in China for its upcoming Gigafactory 3, which will reportedly produce the Model 3 and an all-new Model Y.

Focusing on the car-building aspect of the company, Tesla declared that the “Model 3 production system stabilised in Q3,” pumping out an average of 4,300 Model 3s per week. This is just shy of its 5,000 per-week target although the company did make 5,300 Model 3s in the last week of Q3. It adds that production of the Model 3 now includes Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive versions aside from the existing Rear-Wheel Drive models.

Overall, Tesla delivered almost 70,000 cars in the United States in Q3, with 27,710 units being Model S and X vehicles. Moving forward, the company expects Model 3 production and deliveries to increase in Q4, while the target of delivering 100,000 Model S and X cars this year remains unchanged.

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