You misunderstood the point. Tesla still is in negative income if calculation based on its EV business. The sale of the credit of $518 million, which Tesla got free from governments was more than its net income of $438 million. Having said that, not only has Tesla been taken government 补贴, but also sold 补贴 to other vehicles makers. The speculation of Bitcoin of $101 million was another example of cooking its book, which increased Tesla's revenue and further income.
Back in the 4th quarter of 2020, in order to meet its own predicted sale number, Tesla orchestrated the biggest on-sale in China in the year-end. It was still short of <1,000 EV sales of the predicted number. The stock market was in all hype at the time, the market regarded Tesla as met its numbers.
Of course, all Tesla did was legal, but when valuing a business, look into its real core business earning.