Tesla Tops, Guidance Keeps Everyone Giddy

Premiere electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors (TSLA) reported its hotly-awaited earnings for fiscal Q4 2013. And the company did not disappoint -- at all: earnings per share of $0.14 (actual, before non-recurring items) easily crushed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.04, and non-GAAP revenues in the quarter reached $761 million, far better than the $700 million we were expecting.

What's more, Tesla's production guidance and early progress in China were far better than expectations, practically anywhere. So while TSLA shares fell in regular-day trading Wednesday following Tuesday's new all-time high, so far in the after-market Tesla is up 14%.

Elon Musk's upstart auto manufacturer declared it was increasing its guidance on Model S production for 2014: 35,000 cars they now expect to make in the current year, again exceeding our 31,000 estimate. Instead of 800 Model S cars per week, Tesla expects to generate 1000.

Also, with big expectations about Tesla breaking into the Chinese market, the company's statement had this to boldly state: "Already, the Beijing store is our largest and most active retail location in the world." Just imagine the possibilities if Tesla goes gangbusters in China!

Prior to this latest rainbows-and-unicorns event, Tesla had already created an enormous buzz when it was reported that CEO Musk had met last spring with mergers and acquisitions representatives at Apple (AAPL), prompting all manner of speculation that a) Apple is planning on buying Tesla, b) that Apple products were being negotiated to be part of all new Teslas, including the forthcoming Model X, or c) the two companies are planning a "gig-factory," which would supply Tesla autos with all the necessary battery power he'd earlier said was holding production back.

After we've had time to digest all the material and take notes on the conference call, we'll have a more fleshed-out report on Tesla's Q4. For now, suffice it to say that Toronto car fire is likely not going to be enough to take this company down. Tesla shares currently carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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