Musk riding high

Tesla blows past Street forecasts

Tesla accelerated beyond second-quarter expectations on Wednesday and rode investor interest in its new “affordable” Model 3 to a 7.4-percent jump in afterhours trading.

Since Friday’s handover event, which delivered the first 30 Model 3 sedans to customers, Elon Musk’s company said orders for the $35,000 electric car are averaging 1,800 a day.

“One could not ask for better reviews,” the chief executive and founder said.

Still, Tesla’s ability to ramp up production to meet the demand could be a make-orbreak moment for the company, which has set the ambitious goal of delivering 10,000 cars a week by the end of 2018.

Tesla stock rose to $350 per share after closing at $325.89.

The adjusted loss per share of $1.33 was narrower than the $1.88 expected by analysts, while revenue of $2.79 billion, a year-overyear increase of 121 percent, eclipsed the $2.52 billion estimate.

After calling the Model 3 the culmination of a dream since the company’s launch in 2003, Musk said this is “the best I ever felt about Tesla.”

Nevertheless, the owner of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company acknowledged on Friday that it faces “manufac- turing hell” as it pursues a production target of 500,000 cars in 2018 — up from 84,000 last year.

“Not blaming hell,” he added on Wednesday, “because we bought the ticket.”

Musk was less forthcoming about capital outlays necessary to build those cars, which is a key issue for analysts.

“A lot of this is very hard for us to know,” Musk said after the company reported it had burned through $1 billion in cash during the quarter.

Despite slumping in recent weeks, Tesla stock is up more than 50 percent for the year.

For many observers, though, the big question is whether Tesla will continue as king of the electric vehicle (EV) market, which is getting crowded.

“Audi, BMW and Mercedes are no longer ignoring battery EVs, either,” Morningstar reported.