Tesla turns a surprise profit despite coronavirus factory shutdowns

• Tesla on Wednesday reported a surprise first-quarter profit.
• The company's stock price popped in after-hours trading following the news.
• Semi deliveries will be delayed to 2021, Tesla said, as it ramps up Model Y production.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tesla turned a profit in the first-quarter of 2020, the electric car company said Wednesday, despite being forced to close its main factory due to the coronavirus.

Here are the important figures:

• Adjusted earnings per share (EPS): $1.24 versus an expected loss of $0.34
• Revenue: $5.99 billion versus an expected $5.8 billion

"Despite global operational challenges, we were able to achieve our best first quarter for both production and deliveries," the company said.

Tesla's stock price rose slightly in late trading following the release. Shares of the company are down about 13% from their recent highs, mirroring a similar selloff in wider equity indexes.

The company previously released its first-quarter production and delivery figures at the beginning of the month that largely topped analyst expectations, despite factory shut downs affected the latter half of the quarter.

On a conference call scheduled for Wednesday evening, analysts and investors will likely have questions about the company's cash position going forward given that there's still no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic. Tesla has furloughed many workers in an effort to cut costs as production lines remain idle.

"Tesla (and every auto manufacturer) continues to navigate an unprecedented COVID-19 sales environment that has temporarily closed its flagship Fremont factory and forced the company to make tough decisions such as furloughs and salary cuts to limit near term cash burn and red ink," Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a note to clients this week.

In recent days, Musk has seemed agitated at the continued shutdown. "FREE AMERICA NOW," the billionaire said on Twitter, his usual medium, Tuesday night, along with a Wall Street Journal op-ed suggesting lockdowns aren't effective.

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