With Tesla ($TSLA) shares surging higher in light pre-holiday trading Wednesday, thanks to reports that the electric carmaker blew past expectations for the all-important deliveries metric, investors now look ahead to July 30. That's when the company will report quarterly earnings, and give a more detailed look into its production arm, a year after Musk ordered all hands on deck to ramp up delivery of the Model 3.
Tesla delivered 95,200 vehicles in the second quarter ー nearly double what it delivered in the second quarter of 2018. It was also a record, besting the previous record from the fourth quarter of 2018 by 1,500. It was the first full quarter that Tesla delivered the Model 3 in China and Europe. Deliveries are a critical indicator for Tesla because that's the point at which customers pay the full sticker price of the vehicle they've ordered.
Notably, Tesla received more orders than they had vehicles delivered, said Cheddar's Tim Stenovec.
"The concern for many analysts had been that demand hadn't been there," he said. "This news dampens those concerns."
The production beat was a sliver of good news in an otherwise bad first half of the year for the company. Shares are still down more than 30 percent from their January high of $347. Musk spent months as the target of an SEC investigation over his tweeting, all while several high-profile executive departures added to a sense of the corporate governance being in disrepair. And then tariffs upended Tesla's China strategy. Not to mention a federal tax credit that had a been a boon to Tesla was just halved again, to $1,875, after starting at $7,500. That credit will be eliminated entirely next year, which is part of why Tesla has cut prices.
"Investors are going to want to hear how efficient Tesla has become," said Stenovec. "Is it dropping prices at a rate that matches the economies of scale generated from making more cars?"
Musk has set those aggressive production and delivery targets with the knowledge that other legacy luxury automakers like BMW and Audi ー with their more robust supply chains and manufacturing abilities ー are racing to build fully-electric competitors to Tesla's lineup.
"The work has just begun for the company," Stenovec said. "They still need to show sustained profitability."
But at least for the month of July, Musk has some room to breathe.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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