Late Monday, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk sent out a tweet calling a Wall Street Journal article about sagging Tesla sales “incorrect.” Though Tesla doesn’t typically disclose sales by either month or region, Musk said “September was a record high WW and up 65% year-over-year in North America.”
That tweet is worth a lot of money. On Tuesday, shares were up nearly 7 percent in mid-day trading.
Not only that: analysts like Brian Johnson of Barclays, who had previously expressed concerns about third quarter and fourth quarter sales, now expect Tesla to beat the street when it reports earnings next week.
“Tweet on NA deliveries implies 3Q delivery beat and makes full-year guide more achievable,” wrote Johnson in a note Tuesday morning, estimating roughly 3,274 units in September, or 3Q North American deliveries at roughly 4,900 units.
Tesla has told investors it expects to be able to deliver about 7,800 Model S vehicles in the third quarter worldwide. Tesla is increasingly focusing on demand from China and European markets.
Andrea James of Dougherty & Co. also sent a note to clients.
“Regarding these tweets, we do not know their year-ago September deliveries, so you can’t really call the quarter on it,” wrote James. “Their Q3 guidance is 7,800, which I think they’ll hit. We are not expecting a large beat in Q3. Tesla delivered 5,500 units a year ago in Q3.”
Elon Musk photo via his Twitter profile.
