Tesla’s bumper delivery numbers light up shares

Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) shares were set to open this year at their highest in about a month after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly deliveries of its electric cars, allaying fears of supply chain woes that other automakers have struggled with.

Shares of the world’s most valuable carmaker were up about 7 per cent at $1,126.5 in premarket trading.

“Q4 2021 production results should bolster 2022 expectations but we believe ultimately the pace of capacity expansion (Germany, Texas) will be the larger determinants,” said Joseph Spak, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Spak revised his quarterly revenue estimate, bumping it up by $2.3 billion. J.P. Morgan raised its profit estimates.

Tesla delivered 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter, higher than analysts’ forecasts of 263,026 vehicles.

The company, like others, faces component shortages, as a global logistic crunch and factory closures due to the pandemic limited supply. But Tesla managed to overcome much of the problems by reprogramming software to use less scarce chips.

Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla’s finance chief, said in October it was difficult to predict how quickly the company will be able to boost production at its new factories.

Analysts are expecting new factories to start operating early this year, ramping up production and easing much of the supply constraints.

“Tesla continues to shrug off the chip supply crunch and clearly has ramped Shanghai at breakneck speed,” Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne said.

“We expect a gradual ramp of Berlin and Austin and anticipate those ramps will lead to a deceleration of exports from Shanghai, many of which have been bound for Europe in 2021,” Osborne said.

For the quarter, Model 3 and Y production rose 79 per cent but those of its flagship Model S and X fell 19 per cent largely due to a slowdown in production as the company installed new equipment.