Tesla profits, deliveries disappoint Wall Street

Tesla's posted record earnings Wednesday still disappointed Wall Street, posting adjusted income short of the 1.1 billion dollars analysts had hoped for.

Investors had also hoped to see CEO Elon Musk's electric carmaker set a higher target for vehicle deliveries in 2021, but the company only gave a vague outlook, driving shares down 5 percent.

It caps 12 months that saw Tesla's shares surge some 700 percent.

Investors had bet on expectations that Tesla will quickly and profitably expand after setting a goal of delivering half a million vehicles last year.

Instead, in a statement the company did not state a concrete delivery goal.

Under Musk's leadership, Tesla bucked the 2020 trend of economic upheaval with steady sales at a time when many carmakers reported losses.

Its success allowed Tesla to join the S&P 500 Index, defying long-term skeptics who had bet against the company.

Over the past year Tesla ramped up production in China, though it faces local competition by the likes of Nio and Xpeng.

Tesla is also building new car and battery manufacturing factories in Texas and Germany.

But the race is now on for carmakers who are developing electric vehicles of their own to challenge Tesla's lead.

Several carmakers are slated to release new electric models this year, including Ford's Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen's ID.4.