Tesla (TSLA) surged following Q1 financial results, slightly below expectations, better outlook

Tesla reported its first quarter 2016 financial results and the company missed earnings expectation slightly with a loss per share of $0.57 vs $0.54, but also beat revenue expectation by a very slight margin with $1.6 billion.

The automaker’s stock (TSLA) still surged because of the announcement of a new build plan advancing its 500,000 units per year guidance by two years to 2018. The stock gained 7% after the announcement, but it is holding up 3% in after-hour trading.

Here are the highlights of Tesla’s shareholders letter:

• In Q1, we reached a new quarterly production record of 15,510 vehicles, up 10% from Q4
• GAAP operating expenses were $501 million and include $83 million of non-cash stock based compensation.
• Cash and cash equivalents rose to $1.44 billion at quarter end aided by more effective cash management and $430 million drawn against our asset based credit line.
• Advancing 500,000 unit build plan by two years to 2018
• Volume Model 3 production and deliveries to start in late 2017
• Model S orders up 45% compared to Q1 last year, accelerating globally
• Model X production increased from 507 in Q4 to 2,659 in Q1
• Cash balance up $245M sequentially inclusive of ABL & exclusive of Model 3
• Affirming 80,000 to 90,000 deliveries this year
• The company hinted at a potential upcoming capital raise
• Tesla delivered over 2,500 Powerwalls and nearly 100 Powerpacks in the quarter throughout North America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
• Updating…

The conference call and Q&A with Tesla’s management at 2:30pm Pacific Time (5:30pm Eastern Time) is starting. You can join on the call through Tesla’s website