Tesla Sets Deliveries Record With Over 25,000 In Q1

With the Model 3 just a few months away, Tesla Inc TSLA might have have investors even more excited.

Tesla delivered over 25,000 vehicles in Q1, of which about 13,450 were Model S and about 11,550 were Model X. This was a new quarterly record and represents a 69 percent increase over Q1 2016.

Record-Setting

Q1 production totaled 25,418 vehicles, also a new quarterly record.

"Our delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct," the company said. "Final numbers could vary by up to 0.5%."

In addition to Q1 deliveries, about 4,650 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter. Tesla said these will be counted as deliveries in Q2 2017.

Stock Impact

Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osbourne expected about 23,000 deliveries.

“While we expect some softness in deliveries... we don’t believe this will cause a stir with investors long the stock given the impending ramp of the Model 3,” Osbourne said in a report last week.

Baird's Ben Kallo maintained an Outperform rating on Tesla's stock with a $366 price target ahead of the delivery announcement. He believes the bulk of focus for investors moving forward won't be its delivery guidance, but rather updates and progress on the Model 3 car, the Gigafactory ramp and future solar roof products.

Tesla has already guided to deliver 47,000 to 50,000 Model S and X units in the first half of 2017, and Kallo had said Tesla can achieve this if its Q1 deliveries had come in above 20,000 units.

Tesla's stock closed Friday's session at $278.30. The stock is up 30 percent year-to-date.