Tesla Inc. on Jan. 27 is widely expected to report its sixth consecutive quarterly profit — and potentially its first $1 billion quarter. That follows a remarkable year when Tesla’s stock split and skyrocketed, the company joined the S&P 500 Index and it sold almost half a million cars.
Two years ago, the world’s leading electric carmaker was going through a rough patch. CEO Elon Musk informed employees in a January 2019 open letter that the company had to reduce headcount by 7% and boost Model 3 production rates to survive. Later that month, he told analysts Tesla needed to cut costs and its vehicle prices to avoid bankruptcy.
