Tesla makes a (surprise) profit, Elon makes a (surprise?) outburst — A Tale of Two Outlooks

Congratulations, it's a profit!.. Tesla cutting its earnings reveal cake. The electric car icon made investors smile after posting its 3rd straight quarter of profitability (its longest streak ever), despite corona-related production disruptions like the shutdown of its key Shanghai and Bay Area factories. Tesla can thank a combo of cost cuts + sales bumps for that:

• +32%: How much Tesla's sales increased compared to first quarter 2019.
• -13%: The drop in Tesla's operating expenses compared to 2019.
• $16M: Tesla's profit on $6B in sales — it lost $702M during the same quarter last year.
• 25.5%: Tesla's gross margin (how much sales $$$ it actually keeps after expenses) — up from 20.2% last year.

PR's having whiplash... Tesla's PR team barely had 5 minutes to bask in this post-earnings glow when Elon decided to leave no doubt about where he stands vis-a-vis lockdowns (this all happened mid-earnings call, btw). Spoiler: he hates them.

• "Forcibly imprisoning" — What Elon thinks the gov-sponsored lockdowns are doing (against people's constitutional rights). He called enforceable orders to stay at home "fascist."
• "Dumb" — What Elon called the coronavirus panic back in early March. He also predicted there would "probably" be "close to zero" new US COVID-19 cases by end of April.
• "A serious risk" — Musk is worried that Tesla won't be able to resume operations at its major factory in the SF Bay Area. In March, Elon defied state-wide lockdown orders to keep the plant open (but was later compelled to shut it down). Now the Bay Area has extended its stay-at-home order through all of May.