What happened
Shares of electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA 12.06%) rose sharply on Thursday, climbing past $1,200 for the first time. Shares rose more than 9% shortly after market open.
Investors cheered the company's strong vehicle deliveries in Q2, which came in far ahead of analyst estimates, despite Tesla's main factory in Fremont, California, being shut down during the first half of the quarter.
Model S. Image source: Tesla.
So what
Tesla delivered about 90,650 vehicles during Q2, crushing analysts' consensus forecast for 72,000 deliveries during the period.
"While our main factory in Fremont was shut down for much of the quarter, we have successfully ramped production back to prior levels," Tesla said.
Of its 90,650 deliveries, 10,600 vehicles were either its Model S or X, and 80,050 were Model 3 or Y, the company said. Its second-quarter deliveries compare to 88,496 total deliveries in the first quarter of 2020 and 95,356 in the year-ago period.
Now what
The growth stock's big jump on Thursday adds to its torrid run higher recently. Shares are up 435% over the past 12 months and 190% year to date as investors are showing a growing appreciation for the company's accelerated pace of execution as it capitalizes on the big growth opportunity in front of it.
Looking ahead, investors are likely hoping for sharp growth in deliveries in the second half of the year, fueled by Tesla's new Model Y and the addition of its factory in China, which didn't start producing vehicles until the end of 2019.
