tesla inc tsla 238 is poised to report nearrecord quarterly profit as consumers snap up the company’s electric vehicles though production disruptions in china and inflationary pressures signal a bumpier road ahead the world’s largest car company by value is recovering from a shutdown at its shanghai factory where work was suspended march 28 because of strict government measures meant to slow the spread of covid19 the closure which dented firstquarter output is likely to take a bigger toll in the second quarter reducing the company’s output by roughly 90000 vehicles credit suisse forecast that estimate assumes the factory which had become tesla’s largest by output will be operating at reduced levels in the coming weeks tesla which made roughly 930000 vehicles last year is aiming to boost production by an average of 50 annually wall street expects the company after the bell on wednesday to report roughly 22 billion in firstquarter profit on around 177 billion in sales according to analysts surveyed by factset that is off slightly from the company’s quarterly earnings record of 23 billion set in the last three months of 2021 though up from 438 million in profit on 104 billion in revenue during the first quarter of last year tesla delivered around 310000 vehicles globally in the first quarter up from 184877 a year earlier and 308650 in the fourth quarter mr musk tweeted earlier this month that supplychain interruptions and china’s covid19 measures had made the period exceptionally difficult mr musk who made a 43 billion nonbindingtakeover bid for twitter last week hasn’t said publicly whether he plans to participate in tesla’s earnings call with analysts the event falls on a date that is somewhat of a holiday for the billionaire chief executive who’s known for cracking pot jokes—“420” is a euphemism for marijuana as of tuesday vehicle assembly at tesla’s shanghai factory had partially resumed local governmentrun shanghai television reported “we will ramp up the output in the next three to four days to resume oneshift production” song gang a senior director of manufacturing at tesla’s shanghai factory told the broadcaster tesla had about a week’s worth of inventory of vehicle parts at the factory and was working with local authorities and suppliers to address logistics problems the broadcaster said shanghaiarea manufacturers have had trouble getting parts delivered because china’s travel restrictions have made it difficult for trucks to enter the region analysts have said customers meanwhile are having to wait longer to get behind the wheel of a new tesla as of march us buyers could expect to wait roughly eight months for a new longrange model y compact sportutility vehicle one of the company’s most popular products according to bernstein research delivery lead times historically have been around two to eight weeks domestically the firm said tesla has been charging more for its cars amid inflation and persistent supplychain bottlenecks those higher prices probably benefited tesla in the first quarter helping to offset costs associated with ramping up production at new factories in texas and germany bernstein said tesla in recent weeks delivered its first model ys made at those new plants mr musk has said localizing production would improve tesla’s economics in the long run the company like many in the industry is also contending with soaring costs for the materials used in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles raw materials account for 80 of the cost of a lithiumion battery up from 40 in 2015 according to benchmark mineral intelligence which tracks the battery supply chain mr musk tweeted earlier this month that lithium prices had “gone to insane levels” revisiting the idea that tesla might get into the business of mining and refining the metal tesla has flirted with that prospect for years and even neared deals in the middle of last decade to buy lithium mines in the us and argentina according to a person familiar with the matter but the company didn’t follow through with those acquisitions as it prioritized production of its model 3 sedan the person said in the years since the balance of power has shifted toward suppliers as car companies from ford motor co and volkswagen ag to newcomer rivian automotive inc scramble to secure the materials they need to meet ambitious electricvehicle production targets ford and general motors co are scheduled to report earnings next week rivian’s quarterly results are due in may