Tesla’s 3Q net hits record $1.62B

Record electric vehicle sales over the summer amid a shortage of computer chips and other materials propelled Tesla Inc. to the biggest quarterly net earnings in its history.

Th e company sa i d Wednesday it made $1.62 billion in the third quarter, beating the old record of $1.14 billion set in the second quarter of this year. The profit was nearly five times larger than the $331 million Tesla made in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue of $13.76 billion from July through September also set a record, but it fell short of Wall Street expectations of just over $14 billion, according to FactSet.

Excluding special items such as stock-based compensation, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla made $1.86 per share, beating analyst estimates of $1.62. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said he’s moving the headquarters to Austin, Texas.

Some of the quarterly profit, though, came from selling regulatory credits to other automakers. Tesla made $279 million on credits during the quarter. Other automakers buy the credits when they can’t meet emissions and fuel-economy standards.

Earlier this month Tesla said it delivered a record 241,300 electric vehicles in the third quarter even as it wrestled with the shortages that have hit the entire auto industry. Previously, Musk has said Tesla kept its manufacturing lines running largely by finding chips from alternate suppliers and then scrambling to rewrite some of the software in its cars to ensure all the technology remained compatible.

Third-quarter sales rose 72% over the 140,000 deliveries Tesla made for the same period a year ago.