What happened
Shares of Tesla (TSLA 2.94%) jumped on Friday, climbing as much as 13.4%. By 10:10 a.m. EDT, the stock was up 7.4%.
The stock's gain came after the company released first-quarter delivery numbers that were far ahead of analysts' consensus forecast for the period.
Image source: Tesla.
So what
The electric-car company delivered 88,400 vehicles during Q1, up 40% from the year-ago quarter. But deliveries were down 21% sequentially, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tesla's business. Early in the quarter, production at the company's new factory in Shanghai was temporarily suspended, but it restarted in February. Production at the company's factory in California didn't stop until the last week of the quarter.
Analysts on average were expecting 79,900 deliveries during the period, although this consensus was based on recently lowered estimates as analysts tried to take into account the impact of COVID-19 on production and sales.
Now what
Surprisingly, Tesla didn't reduce its full-year outlook for vehicle deliveries. Going into the year, management had said it expected total 2020 deliveries to exceed 500,000. To hit this figure, of course, production at the company's U.S. factory will need to resume. It wouldn't be surprising if Tesla eventually lowers its full-year outlook.
