Tesla earned $386 million during the fourth quarter of 2019, the electric-car maker said on Wednesday. The results sent Tesla's shares up 7%, or about $40, in after-hours trading.
The company's adjusted earnings amounted to $2.14 per share on revenue of $7.4 billion. Financial analysts had expected an adjusted gain of $1.74 per share and $7.1 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Tesla earned an 18.8% gross margin during the quarter. Analysts had predicted an 18.3% gross margin.
The company's fourth-quarter results represented an improvement from the prior quarter, when it made $1.91 per share and $6.3 billion in revenue, and the fourth quarter of 2018, when it made $1.93 per share and $7.23 billion in revenue.
Tesla also announced its full-year results for 2019. During the year, the company lost $4.92 per share on revenue of $24.6 billion. Those numbers were an improvement over 2018, when Tesla lost $5.72 per share and earned $21.5 billion in revenue.
While Tesla has not yet made a profit over a 12-month period in its 17-year history, the company expressed optimism for this year, predicting that it would post consistent profits and break the annual-sales record it set last year. While Tesla delivered 367,500 vehicles in 2019, the company said 2020 deliveries should "comfortably exceed" 500,000.
The company also said it was ahead of schedule with starting production of its Model Y SUV. The Model Y's "production ramp" began in January, Tesla said, though it didn't specify whether it had finished making any Model Y vehicles. Model Y deliveries will begin by the end of March, the company said.
Since Tesla released its third-quarter results in October, its stock price has more than doubled, from $255 to $581 when the markets closed on Wednesday. In addition to its surprise third-quarter profit, Tesla shares have been buoyed by 2019's record sales and the rapid construction of its factory in Shanghai, which began delivering vehicles to customers at the end of last year.
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