Tesla Poised for Document Annual Revenue

Wall Road expects Tesla, after the bell on Wednesday, to report roughly $5.3 billion in annual revenue on round $53 billion of gross sales final 12 months, based on analysts surveyed by FactSet. That’s up from $721 million in revenue and $31.5 billion in gross sales in 2020, when Tesla generated its first full-year revenue.

Regardless of the chip scarcity, auto makers are anticipated to report banner earnings for 2021. Tesla, like a lot of its rivals, benefited from having the ability to cost extra for its automobiles as demand outran provide. Its in-house software program engineering experience additionally helped to make the corporate extra agile because it navigated the worldwide semiconductor shortfall, although it wasn’t proof against supply-chain issues.

Auto makers are anticipated to launch greater than two dozen new battery-powered automobiles within the U.S. this 12 months, based on Financial institution of America, and traders will likely be listening Wednesday for updates on Tesla’s plans to broaden its automobile choices. Mr. Musk, who didn’t take part within the firm’s third-quarter analyst briefing, has stated he deliberate to offer a recent product street map on the decision.

It has been almost two years because the firm final delivered a brand new mannequin—the Mannequin Y compact sport-utility automobile—to clients. Tesla’s Cybertruck pickup, unveiled in 2019, is predicted to be the following out, however has confronted delays. So, too, has the semitrailer truck, which Tesla revealed in 2017 and, as of October, was due for manufacturing in 2023. Mr. Musk urged final fall that components shortages had contributed to these product delays.

“Oh man, this 12 months has been such a provide chain nightmare & it’s not over!”  the chief govt tweeted in November.

Mr. Musk has additionally teased a $25,000 automotive geared toward making electrical automobiles accessible to a wider array of shoppers and a refreshed model of the corporate’s first manufacturing automotive, the Roadster sports activities automotive.

Analysts count on Tesla to construct on final 12 months’s momentum by delivering almost 1.5 million automobiles to clients in 2022, based on FactSet. That’s in step with the corporate’s goal of accelerating deliveries by 50% yearly, on common, within the coming years.

Key to these progress plans are new factories in Germany and in Texas. The corporate has confronted delays at each services, which it had hoped to have operational final 12 months. Analysts now count on Tesla to start delivering Mannequin Ys made on the vegetation within the subsequent few months.

In Germany, the Brandenburg state authorities says the approval course of for Tesla’s manufacturing facility close to Berlin is within the last levels after the corporate, in December, offered the final batch of requested paperwork.

Tesla has obtained short-term approval at every step of the development course of and has been producing automobiles in small numbers to check machines on the plant, however it isn’t allowed to promote any automobiles made there or shift into mass manufacturing, state officers stated.

Tesla, which has lengthy relied on battery cells from suppliers corresponding to

Panasonic Corp.

, has additionally been working to provide new, bigger cells that it designed in-house. Drew Baglino, the corporate’s senior vice chairman of powertrain and vitality engineering, informed traders in October to count on Tesla to start delivering automobiles powered by these bigger cells early this 12 months.

In the meantime, the corporate has been broadening entry to a complicated driver-assistance function designed to assist automobiles navigate cities. Town-driving instrument is a part of a package deal that Tesla has dubbed “Full Self-Driving,” although it doesn’t make automobiles autonomous. Tesla not too long ago elevated the worth of that package deal 20%, to $12,000.

—William Boston contributed to this text.

Write to Rebecca Elliott at rebecca.elliott@wsj.com