New York (AFP)

Despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic, Tesla has, to the surprise of the market, made money for the fourth quarter in a row between March and June and plans to step on the accelerator a little more with a new plant in Texas. .

The spread of Covid-19 has generally weighed on the car purchases of consumers, confined and with a tight budget.

It also caused the closure of the Californian Tesla plant until mid-May, triggering a pass of arms between Elon Musk, who was pushing for a rapid reopening, and the local authorities.

The Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle maker has seen deliveries drop 5%.

This decline is however much less marked than the sudden drop in sales of more than 30% received by its competitors General Motors or Ford.

Importantly, the company run by the whimsical Elon Musk posted net income of $ 104 million and earnings per share of $ 2.18, far exceeding the expectations of analysts who expected the group to lose money. 'money.

Tesla's profitability "testifies to an economic model that continues to lower costs and improve production, including under the difficult circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic", noted analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities in a note.

Tesla even continues to "defy the skeptics" by reaffirming its goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles over the year, said the specialist.

The electric vehicle manufacturer has indeed said that even if this goal had "become more difficult to achieve" with the interruption of production for several weeks, it intended to achieve it.

The group is in the process of increasing the production capacities of its new Model Y, an SUV, at its factories in Fremont, California, and Shanghai, China, while preparing a factory in Berlin, Germany. " continues to progress ".

The project of a new "mega-factory" in the United States for its part was clarified Wednesday: Elon Musk announced that it would be built in Texas, near Austin.

The boss assured that it would be an "ecological paradise" and that it would be "open to the public".

The group will produce the Cybertruck electric pickup and the Semi-trailer there, Musk said on a conference call.

It will also manufacture Model 3, Tesla's entry-level vehicle, and Model Y, sold in the eastern half of the United States.

The announcement was immediately greeted by State Governor Greg Abbott, who praised himself for creating "an economic environment that allows companies like Tesla to innovate and succeed."

The project should according to him "create at least 5,000 jobs and generate more than a billion dollars of investment".

- Entrance to S&P 500 -

On Wall Street, the action took nearly 5% in electronic trading following the close of the official session.

It thus continues its momentum, Tesla having soared by more than 275% on the stock market since the beginning of the year.

With its electric vehicles, the group embodies for many the future of the automotive sector and it has continued to generate profits since its loss of $ 408 million in the second quarter of 2019.

Tesla, which is now worth nearly $ 300 billion on Wall Street, dethroned Japan's Toyota from the rank of car maker with the world's highest market capitalization in early July.

The fact that Elon Musk's group posted a profit for the fourth quarter in a row on Wednesday evening opened the door to the S&P 500.

Being included in this prestigious index would allow the share to be systematically included in many financial products which automatically follow its fluctuations, ETFs, and would give it even more scope.

However, some specialists remain suspicious, like Garrett Nelson of the CFRA firm.

The group's second-quarter results were largely helped, he said, by "an unusually high level" of revenue from carbon credits.

"Tesla has certainly managed to pull a rabbit out of its hat once again with its results, but the price of its share is in our opinion completely disconnected from its fundamentals," he said.

© 2020 AFP