Tesla posted its first full-year profit, driven by record vehicle deliveries in the face of a global pandemic and the growing appetite for electric cars that is driving the company to seek a sharp increase in production this year.
The Silicon Valley automaker said Wednesday that it expects to increase production by an average of about 50% in the coming years and overcome that by 2021.
Tesla reported about $ 31.5 billion in sales in 2020 to generate a net profit of $ 721 million. This represents a loss of $ 862 million in 2019 and sales of $ 24.6 billion. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s revenue expectations of about $ 31.1 billion, according to FactSet, although it has lost profit estimates.
Tesla generated a profit of $ 270 million in the fourth quarter, up from $ 105 million during the prior year period. Sales for the October to December period increased by about 46% in the last three months of 2019, to about $ 10.7 billion.
The automaker’s shares plunged more than 6% on the floor.