Musk claims Cybertruck has become profitable at last

Third quarter results recharge Tesla's stock price

Tesla stock is on the up after America's most valuable automaker reported its third quarter results – including the news that the beleaguered Cybertruck "achieved a positive gross margin for the first time."

Here's the results rundown [PDF]:

• Revenue – $25.18 billion, slightly below analysts' expectations but still up 8 percent year-on-year.
• Net income – $2.17 billion, up 17 percent on 12 months ago.
• Earnings per share – $0.62, also up 17 percent.
• Deliveries – 469,796 vehicles, up 3 percent. Of those, 443,668 were Model 3 or Y motors.

"Our company is currently between two major growth waves: the first one began with the global expansion of the Model 3/Y platform and we believe the next one will be initiated by advances in autonomy and introduction of new products, including those built on our next generation vehicle platform," Tesla told [PDF] investors.

"Despite ongoing macroeconomic conditions, we expect to achieve slight growth in vehicle deliveries in 2024. Energy storage deployments are expected to more than double year-over-year in 2024."

The fact that Tesla is worth more than traditional American car companies – at least according to the stock market – is one of those baffling questions. It's facing increasing competition from EV rivals foreign and domestic, and has endured numerous recalls and negative press for the vaunted Cybertruck. After the rather embarrassing fake demo of human robots last week the automaker's stock price took a hit – but it's all good now, apparently.

"The stock dropped 6.5 percent after the launch, longtime Tesla critic Dan O'Dowd told The Register. "But you know, once they were worth more than all the automakers put together, even though they only have about two percent world market share."

The Middle Kingdom rises – Click to enlarge

His Muskiness also touted the effectiveness of his solar power empire. Based on the figures, he'll need it. ®