Tesla delivered strong first quarter earnings to investors on Monday. The report marked the company's seventh consecutive profitable quarter after years of losses. The positive report was driven by strong sales, margin improvements, bitcoin sales, and environmental credits.
The company’s automotive gross margin expanded to 26.5% after shrinking to 24.1% in the final quarter of 2020, alleviating investor fears that the company could be facing permanent profitability headwinds. That margin expansion happened on the back of auto sales of over $9 billion, up by 75% from $5.1 billion a year ago.
Revenues from all business lines reached nearly $10.4 billion for the first quarter, growing at a rate of 74%, just slightly slower than the automotive segment alone.
While Tesla’s net income hit $438 million for the quarter, that was mostly driven by regulatory credit sales of $518 million and a sale of bitcoin that netted the company $101 million for the quarter.