Investing.com - Tesla shares surged on Thursday, as its chief executive, Elon Musk, appeared to restore investor confidence with an apologetic and restrained performance on the company's post-earnings conference call.
The outspoken Musk, who told analysts last quarter that he refused to answer their "boring" questions, apologized multiple times last night for his past behavior and sounded upbeat on the company's future.
Musk said on the call that he expected the company to be henceforth profitable and cash flow positive, excluding some debt repayment, and had no plans for an equity raise.
"From an operating plant standpoint, from onwards I really want to emphasize our goal is to be profitable and cash flow positive for every quarter going forward," Musk said.
The electric automaker reported $4 billion in revenue for the quarter, beating Wall Street estimates of $3.92 billion. Despite the revenue beat, the company posted a larger-than-expected earnings per share loss of $3.06 for the quarter.
The company also said that it expects production of its Model 3 - Tesla's lowest-priced model and the key to its plans to become a mass-market automaker - to reach between 50,000 and 55,000 units in its third quarter.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were up 9.5% to $329.51 shortly after the open, putting it on track to retake the title of most valuable U.S. automaker from General Motors (NYSE:GM).
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