Tesla posts fourth straight quarterly profit
Elon Musk has a lot to dance about these day.
His electric car company Tesla on Wednesday announced something it has never done before.....four straight quarters with a profit.
That milestone could pave the way for Tesla to earn a coveted spot in the benchmark S&P 500 stock market index and bring with it even more investor attention.
Quarterly profits and revenues topped forecasts - driven by better-than-expected vehicle deliveries, even in the face of disruptions caused by stay-at-home orders.
Musk is so confident - he's sticking to his forecast to deliver more than half a million electric vehicles this year.
Wednesday's results were largely seen as a vindication for investors who have propelled the stock up 47 percent this month alone - and about 500 percent over the past year.
Another reason for Musk's happy feet: Ahead of earnings, he already qualified for a personal payout worth an unprecedented $2.1 billion, his second jackpot since May - all tied to the stock's rapid rise.
With a market value of some $300 billion - Tesla is the world's most valuable auto company - even though it sells far fewer cars that any of its competitors.
But Tesla detailed plans to address that gap on Wednesday.
It is boosting capacity at its California factory to pump out more Model 3 and Model Ys, announced that before the year is out it will start building three factories on three continents all at the same time - - - and it will start shipping the Tesla semi truck starting next year.
