Tesla Inc. on Wednesday posted the second quarterly profit in a row on record vehicle deliveries and said it would deliver more than 500,000 units this year, as the electric carmaker's shares surged to new highs.

Tesla shares (TSLA) rose 13% to $654 after hours, reaching an all-time high and for the first time cracking the $600 mark.

Tesla on Wednesday said the manufacturing process at its new Shanghai factory was running as expected and said it would increase production of its mass-market Model 3 due to strong demand in China.

The company also said it planned to allocate the same amount of capacities for its new Model Y, an electric crossover utility vehicle that it started producing this month in Fremont, California.

Tesla said cost efficiencies and high production volumes should allow it to ultimately reach an industry-leading operating margin. It reported a 4.9% operating margin in the fourth quarter.

"The point Tesla is already starting Model Y production in Fremont was the most notable item in the release. For a company that has always been late, this is a big improvement. First they were looking at a late 2020 Model Y ramp, then pulled forward to summer time, and now we have production in 1Q20," Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin wrote in a note.

Tesla's stock has more than doubled in value since the company posted a third-quarter profit, beat estimates for 2019 vehicle deliveries and ramped up production at its Gigafactory in China.

Investors overall are betting that Tesla has overcome its production, legal and management struggles and is leading the industry on technological innovation for the next generation of cars.

The investor appetite also is a boon to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose mercurial behavior forced him to step down as chairman after a series of scandals and investor doubts about Tesla's ability to withstand competition from larger, better capitalized global rivals.

Boosted by strong demand for its vehicles in Europe and China, Tesla on Wednesday said its cash balance increased to $6.3 billion.

Tesla is expected to dig into its cash pile as it plans to build its first European plant in Germany and ramps up production at its new factory in Shanghai, where it produces Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossover utility vehicles next year.

Tesla on Wednesday said it "should comfortably exceed" 500,000 vehicle deliveries in 2020, up from 367,500 last year, as production ramps up.

The company has been trying to keep a tight lid on costs its new initiatives, which also include a Semi truck, an electric pickup truck, a new generation of the Tesla Roadster and automated driving features, are likely to put a strain on resources.

In the three last three months of 2019, total operating expenses rose less than 1% to $1.03 billion.

But Tesla's fourth-quarter results mark only the fifth profitable quarter since the company began disclosing financial results after going public in 2010.

The company's financial results have fluctuated widely in the past and many investors remain skeptical that Tesla can consistently deliver profit, cash flow and growth.

Tesla is also trailing luxury carmaker rivals on steady profits per vehicle, a key metric closely watched by auto professionals to compare companies across the industry.  

Net income attributable to common shareholders fell to $105 million, or 56 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, from $140 million, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Tesla earned $2.06 per share. Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.72 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue rose to $7.38 billion from $7.23 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of $7.02 billion.