Tesla's Q2 Earnings Reveal Challenges and AI Ambitions Amid Market Pressures

Here's what Wall Street thinks about Tesla's second-quarter results

Wall Street ratings were a mixed bag after Tesla's second-quarter financial results. Tesla on Wednesday reported a second straight quarter of declining automotive sales , which came in at $16.7 billion for the period, down from $19.9 billion in the same quarter last year. The company also missed on top and bottom lines. Shares of the electric vehicle maker plunged 6% in premarket trading, piling on its roughly 17.7% year to date loss. Tesla has struggled in key markets such as China and Europe and notably lost market share to Chinese companies that have released lower cost EV models. Still, analysts have a wide range of ratings and price targets on Tesla shares. It's a company that bulls tend to stick by for its future value in technologies such as robotaxis, not necessarily its near-term innovation. Analysts polled by LSEG have a consensus price target on Tesla that implies more than 9% downside for Tesla shares. Of the 54 analysts covering the stock, five rate it a strong buy, while 19 rate it a buy and 20 maintain a hold. Ten have an underperform or sell rating on shares. Here's a look at what some Wall Street majors said after the EV maker's earnings release: Goldman Sachs keeps neutral rating, lifts price target to $300 Analyst Mark Delaney raised his 12-month price target to $300 from $285. He said he expects Tesla's revenue growth and profits to improve in 2026, but is keeping his 2025-2027 estimates below the FactSet consensus. "We believe a key focus for investors going forward will be the ability for revenue and profits to reaccelerate driven by Tesla's AI enabled products (e.g. robotaxis, FSD) and new vehicle launches against a more difficult policy environment and given competition," Delaney said in a Wednesday note. "Management did note the potential for the end of IRA EV purchase incentives in 4Q to temporarily pressure fundamentals, but the shift to AI enabled products including robotaxis/FSD and Optimus would be a substantial long-term driver." Wells Fargo reiterates underweight rating, $120 price target Wells Fargo sees major room for downside ahead. Analyst Colin Langan's price target implies Tesla shares stand to lose nearly 64% from their latest close of $332.56 per share. Tesla shares are down in post-earnings trading "despite a Q2 op margin beat as fundamentals look worse into 2H. TSLA did not provide new delivery guidance & warned of added pressure from tariffs, IRA & OBBB. We agree with 2H concerns & remain UW," Langan wrote in a Thursday note. He remains cautious on robotaxis, even after CEO Elon Musk's bullish commentary that robotaxis will "probably address half the population of the U.S." by year-end, and that Tesla expects an Optimus 3 prototype by the end of the year to scale next year. Langan said that scaling robotaxis and Optimus humanoids could take longer than expected, which he believes raises risks as Tesla's core business weakens. Morgan Stanley maintains overweight rating, $410 price target Analyst Adam Jonas is a well-known Tesla bull. He reiterated Tesla as a top pick and kept a target price that implies about 23% potential upside. Still, Jonas lowered his fiscal year 2025 earnings per share expectations by 14% compared to prior forecasts, mostly driven by lower deliveries and higher operating expenses. "2Q numbers were a slight beat with FCF near break-even. Tesla is crossing the chasm to autonomy while absorbing slower volume, EV incentive elimination, tariffs and investing in new initiatives that may not make margins for years," Jonas said in a note about Tesla's results. "Our OW rating and $410 price target are underpinned by our belief that Tesla's capabilities in key areas of physical AI ... offer growth and margin opportunities that greatly exceed those of the traditional EV business, which is under pressure," he added. "we struggle to think of any other company as well positioned as Tesla in terms of data, robotics, energy, AI, manufacturing and supporting infrastructure Bank of America reiterates neutral rating, $341 price target Analyst Federico Merendi anticipates "rough quarters ahead" for Tesla, echoing Musk's commentary. His neutral rating on the stock relies on Tesla's current market advantage in autonomous driving initiatives and physical AI applications, he said. "Tesla commentary on future developments in terms of real-world AI (Autonomous vehicles/robotaxi and Optimus) remains bullish. However, the company is facing challenging times," he wrote in a note to clients. "Commentary also suggests that the tariff impact may increase in the future. However, by end of 2026, management thinks that Tesla's economics will be compelling with autonomy at scale." Evercore ISI maintains in-line rating, $235 price target Analyst Chris McNally expects Tesla's third-quarter results to see the downbeat effects of slower EV launches and tariff impacts. "The LT negative EPS revision trend has continued, unabated," he said in a note. "We believe there will be a sharper cons move post Q3."

Tesla's Nightmare Continues As Musk Warns of "Rough Quarters"Ahead

Tesla posted a 16% profit drop and a 12% revenue slide as EV demand weakens, tax credits vanish, tariffs bite, and Musk admits the pain may last for quarters to come. Tesla’s second-quarter earnings paint a grim picture: falling profits, slumping sales, and a reputation hit that keeps on hurting. The all-electric carmaker reported net income of $1.17 billion, down 16.3% from the same period in 2024. Revenue fell 12% to $22.5 billion from $25.5 billion a year earlier, marking Tesla’s second consecutive quarter of declining profits and revenue this year. The cause is clear: Tesla is selling fewer cars and cutting prices to chase demand. Deliveries fell 13.5% in the second quarter, showing how steep the drop has been. Tesla’s troubles are about more than economics. CEO Elon Musk has become one of the most polarizing figures in the corporate world. His political pivotâ€"spending nearly $290 million to help Donald Trump return to the White House in 2024 and later joining Trump’s administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)â€"sparked global backlash. The infamous DOGE began aggressively cutting federal agency budgets, sparking protests outside Tesla showrooms worldwide and, more importantly, alienating the company’s core customer base. By becoming a prominent face of the administration and championing right-wing causes, Musk has pushed away the liberal buyers in the U.S. and Europe who once formed the bedrock of Tesla's support. Sales took a hit. Musk resigned from DOGE in May to refocus on Tesla, but the damage lingers. Adding to the drama, he recently launched a new political party, the American Party, vowing to field candidates in the 2026 midterm elections after falling out with Trump. "We probably could have a few rough quarters. I'm not saying that we will, but we could," Musk admitted on the earnings call with analysts. The road ahead looks brutal. President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill," signed on July 4, kills the $7,500 federal EV tax credit as of September 30. That means Teslas are about to get pricier. The same law scraps clean-air penalties for automakers who fail emissions standards, ending a key Tesla revenue stream from selling regulatory credits to competitors. In Q2, those credit sales were slashed nearly in half, falling to $439 million from $890 million a year earlier. “The One Big Beautiful Bill has a lot of changes that would affect our business in the near term,†CFO Vaibhav Taneja told analysts. Tesla, which manufactures most of its U.S. cars in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas, still relies heavily on imported raw materials and components, leaving it vulnerable to tariffs. “We started seeing the impact of tariffs,†Taneja said. “Sequentially, the cost of tariffs increased around $300 million with approximately two-thirds of that impact in automotive and the rest in energy. However, given the latency in manufacturing and sales, the full impact will come through in the following quarters.†He warned: “Costs will increase in the near term. While we are doing our best to manage these impacts, we are in an unpredictable environment on the tariff front.†The combination of slowing demand, price cuts, disappearing EV incentives, and rising tariffs suggests Tesla’s earnings pain isn’t going away soon. But on Wednesday’s earnings call, Musk once again pitched his vision of Tesla’s future, not as a car company, but as a robotics and AI powerhouse built on humanoid robots, automation, and self-driving tech. The problem? Tesla’s late-June robotaxi launch in Austin showed how far behind it is. Waymo, Google’s self-driving subsidiary, already operates fully autonomous robotaxis across multiple U.S. cities and covers more than twice Tesla’s Austin service area. Tesla’s small fleet, meanwhile, is invite-only and still requires a human supervisor in the passenger seat.

As Tesla earnings approach, Musk faces pressure to deliver

What we're watching: Much of the focus on the earnings report and conference call will be on the recent launch of the company's long-anticipated robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. * Investors will be awaiting initial reports on how the robotaxi network is operating and what Musk says about the timeline for accelerating the rollout. Yes, but: The automaker can't afford a sharp drop in EV sales -- that revenue is essential to bankroll its robotaxi and humanoid robot ambitions. * The company makes the four most-American-made vehicles on the market, according to a Cars.com study, but it's still exposed to tariffs -- in large part due to its battery supply chain. * "The exposure to tariff[s] is not insignificant," writes Bank of America analyst Federico Merendi. "Tesla relies on batteries made in China." What they're saying: "While near-term and this quarter the numbers are nothing to write home about, we believe investors are instead focused on the AI future at Tesla with a motivated Musk back driving Tesla's future," writes Tesla bull and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.

Tesla profits drop as Musk warns of 'rough' patch before riches

Tesla reported another drop in quarterly profits Wednesday as CEO Elon Musk warned the company could face a few "rough" quarters following the elimination of federal tax credits for electric vehicles under President Donald Trump's big fiscal package. Musk, on an earnings conference call with analysts and investors, reiterated that Tesla's technology advantages position it for significant long-term profitability, but suggested the company's recent slump would continue or worsen in a difficult interim period until new autonomous transport ventures can be monetized. At issue is the period after the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases expires on September 30, among the green tax credits zeroed out by Trump's sweeping package approved earlier this month. "We probably could have a few rough quarters. I'm not saying we will, but we could," Musk said of a period that immediately follows the expiration of the US tax credit for EVs. "But once you get to autonomy at scale" by the second half of 2026, "I'd be surprised if Tesla economics are not very compelling," said Musk. His comments acknowledge more short-term pain following Wednesday's results, its third straight quarter of lower profitability as the company faces intensifying electric vehicle competition and deals with backlash due to Musk's political activities. Tesla reported second-quarter profits of $1.2 billion, down 16% from the year-ago level. The company in a press release emphasized ongoing efforts to lead in artificial intelligence and robotics. Revenues fell 12% to $22.5 billion. Lower profits had been expected after Tesla earlier this month disclosed a decline in auto deliveries. Results were also impacted by a fall in average vehicle selling prices and higher operating expenses driven by AI and other research and development projects. Tesla did not offer an outlook on full-year vehicle production, citing shifting global trade and fiscal policies, as well as factors such as "the broader macroeconomic environment, the rate of acceleration of our autonomy efforts and production ramp at our factories." 'Top pick' The results come on the heels of Tesla's launch last month of a robotaxi service in the Texas capital Austin, Musk's first fully autonomous offering after pushing back the timeframe many times. Musk has heavily touted Tesla's autonomous driving program, as well as the company's "Optimus" humanoid robot, which employs artificial intelligence technology. But analysts have criticized Tesla's sluggishness in unveiling new autos, while questioning Musk's commitment to an earlier goal of launching a state-of-the-art electric vehicle priced at around $25,000 to bolster the odds of mass deployment. On the call, Musk reiterated his desire for a lower priced vehicle. Tesla's press release said the company began building "a more affordable model" in June, with volume set to rise in the second half of 2025. Tesla executives said they had pushed back the ramp-up on the new vehicle in order to maximize production of the company's current generation of autos before the federal tax credit expires. The worsening near-term outlook for EV sales is one reason analysts at JPMorgan Chase call Tesla's stock price "completely divorced from increasingly deteriorating fundamentals." But analysts at Morgan Stanley rate the company a "top pick" in light of its leadership in robotics and artificial intelligence, although a recent note warned Musk's political activity "may add further near-term pressure" to shares. Political controversies Disagreements over Trump's fiscal package have been a factor in Musk's recurring feud with the president, whose name was not mentioned during the 60-minute conference call. The billionaire donated huge sums to Trump's successful 2024 presidential campaign and then joined the administration to lead the "Department of Government Efficiency," which cut thousands of government jobs, sparking boycotts and vandalism that tarnished the Tesla brand. Musk left the White House in May. After their bitter falling out, Musk warned Trump's legislation would bankrupt the country. On July 5 the tech mogul announced he was launching a new political party in the United States, the "America Party." Trump dismissed the launch as "ridiculous," and has also threatened to look at deporting Musk and to revoking his government contracts. Shares of Tesla fell 4.1% in after-hours trading.

Tesla sells off after Elon Musk scraps his 2025 sales growth target and warns 'we could have a few rough quarters'

Tesla shares sold off overnight and this morning on Wednesday after CEO Elon Musk scrapped his full-year guidance, warned upcoming quarters could prove rough and hosted an earnings call once again long on promises and short on specifics. The stock was down 6.5% this morning in post-market, pre-bell trading. Just over a month ago, the company launched its maiden robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas. The new flagship service crystallized over a decade of investment in artificial intelligence and is meant to be definitive proof the EV carmaker is now an AI and robotics company. Yet four weeks later and Tesla has little to show for it. Just 7,000 driverless miles have been logged, Musk's team revealed in the quarterly call. That works out to 20 miles per car per day, on average. Shares held steady in after-hours trading following the release of its widely-expected weak Q2 results that included an 89% drop in net cash generated. But they dipped lower as the earnings call drew to a close with little in the way of answers. They were nearly 6% down as trading began in New York. "Investors were searching for something and not hearing it," wrote Gene Munster, co-founder of DeepWater Asset Management and longtime Tesla bull, who counted himself among the disappointed. "I wanted to hear more details about how the master plan will advance in the near term." The call was Musk's first opportunity to present shareholders with a clear roadmap for his robotaxi service with concrete milestones that specified: Right now, he is charging a flat rate of $6.90, but most expect either a per-mile rate or a dynamic price similar to Uber. Another key question that went unanswered was when the company felt it would no longer be necessary to employ a human safety monitor in the front passenger seat. Right now, scaling is inhibited by the presence of an onboard babysitter needed to prevent freak accidents, like the recent case when a monitor had to stop a Tesla from running a railroad crossing as a train approaches. Take this statement for example, in which Musk reaffirmed comments earlier this year that his autonomous ride-hailing service would expand to most of the country by year-end. "We'll technically be able to do it. Assuming we get regulatory approvals, it's probably addressing half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year. But we are being very cautious, we don't want to take any chances -- we're gonna go cautious. The service areas and the number of vehicles in operation will increase at a hyper-exponential rate." That was one continuous answer. Broken down Musk is arguing his four-week old service that continues to operate with just around a dozen vehicles in one city will -- in the course of just five months -- expand in a way that is simultaneously both "very cautious" as well as "hyper-exponential" to half the country. "In the meanwhile, we'll launch a service with a person in the driver's seat just to expedite while we wait for regulatory approval," said Tesla AI director Ashok Elluswamy on the call. But investors don't want another Uber. For the business model to work, the human safety monitor needs to be removed from the car. Here as well there was no timetable -- just the word "eventually" in the shareholder deck. None of this might be a problem were it not for Tesla's struggling core car business. With vehicle sales down 13% through the first half, Musk on Wednesday scrapped his guidance but confirmed vehicle sales would definitely grow this year. Now the company says the "actual results will depend on a variety of factors." Could a second straight year of declines be possible? In October, Musk was still promising a 20% volume increase minimum. The Tesla CEO also confirmed the low-cost model -- effectively a cheaper Model Y -- has been delayed. Volume production is now slated for the fourth quarter of this year. Until then, it wants to prioritize meeting demand for customers looking to buy a Tesla before the federal tax credit expires at the start of October. Starting that same month, however, the outlook begins to darken. "We probably could have a few rough quarters," Musk conceded, citing Q4, Q1, and potentially Q2 as well. Then the script should flip once its upcoming CyberCab is deployed in sufficiently large numbers in its robotaxi fleet in the latter half of next year financed in part with the $37 billion in cash Tesla holds on its balance sheet. Fortunately, the upfront costs shouldn't be too expensive for Tesla to finance. The two-seater was conceived to cut corners on performance, only aiming for a "gentle ride". Since it's not really meant for private ownership, it doesn't need the kind of expensive propulsion system or finely tuned chassis that can deliver the speed, agility, or handling of a typical Tesla. There were some positives in the Q2 results. Automotive gross margins excluding CO2 regulatory credits came in at 15%, a 40 basis point improvement over last year, giving investors hope the downward trend may finally be forming a bottom. Nor were the $439 million in regulatory credits needed for the group to earn a profit either, thanks in large part to record profits at its industrial-size Megapack batteries. Sold to utilities for managing sudden peaks in electricity demand, its stationary energy storage business had gross margins double those of its larger car operations. Tesla also expanded its Cortex data center in Austin by nearly a third, and now has the equivalent of 67,000 Nvidia H100 AI training chips. Musk also said his company's own proprietary AI inference chip, is built into every Tesla car, will soon become so intelligent it presents a threat to U.S. national security should it to end up in the wrong hands. Referring to his upcoming AI5 chip that follows the current HW4 generation, Musk said: "It's so powerful we'll have to nerf it to some degree for markets outside the U.S. because it blows way past the export restrictions." But this wasn't sufficient for the market. True, it is not unusual for the stock to sell off after a business update, since Tesla quarterly calls are often viewed as "buy the rumor, sell the fact" trades. The news that emerged Wednesday proved however lean pickings for shareholders still willing to pay 140 times next year's consensus earnings to own the stock, especially since the equity story hinges so heavily on the success of its maiden robotaxi fleet. "Investors were hungry for clear expectations about how many vehicles are on the road in Austin today and what it will end the quarter at," DeepWater's Munster added. "They wanted to hear that the company expect the human supervisor to be removed during the quarter or that the service will shift from being invite-only to public availability."

Things Are Looking Really, Really Bad for Tesla

Elon Musk's carmaker Tesla is widely expected to disappoint with its Q2 earnings report later today. Demand for the company's EVs has dried up significantly over the past 18 months, driven in large part by its exceptionally divisive CEO's efforts to alienate buyers at the exact moment that the company is facing a flood of high-quality international competition. Deliveries fell a record 13.5 percent this quarter compared to a year earlier -- and the accompanying earnings report, which is set to be released this afternoon, could paint an even more dire picture of Tesla's financials, as CNN reports, highlighting just how far the carmaker has fallen. Despite plummeting car sales, investors have remained resiliently optimistic, with shares rallying 50 percent since hitting their lowest point this year in April. As Bloomberg reports, profit estimates have plummeted -- but shares have rallied in response, highlighting an unusual inverse relationship. Shares are up over six percent over the last five days leading up to Tesla's earnings report this week, indicating plummeting revenues aren't a major concern to investors. Tesla bulls have also seemingly looked past president Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," which passed earlier this month. The bill will remove a $7,500 tax credit for US-made EVs, as well as a federal fuel economy incentives program, which generated almost $2.8 billion in revenue for Tesla in 2024. The waning demand adds even more pressure on Musk's massive bet on a robotaxi service, which launched in a geo-fenced area in Austin, Texas, last month, opening up the billionaire to criticism that he's abandoning the carmaker's core business in favor of going all in on AI and autonomous ridehailing. But given the chaotic nature of Tesla's extremely limited robotaxi launch, the carmaker still has a lot to prove. Despite the limited rollout, the robotaxis have already caused mayhem on the streets of Austin, from terrifying close calls to reckless driving and broken laws. Whether Musk's vision for autonomous driving will eventually pay off remains unclear at best. For one, critics have pointed out that relying exclusively on cameras -- and not radar or LIDAR -- is a huge mistake. Tesla also has steep competition, largely in the form of Alphabet's Waymo, which has a massive lead over the EV maker and already operates robotaxi services across several major US cities. In other words, investors will have to subscribe to Musk's vision of a robotaxi service whether they like it or not. The mercurial CEO previously predicted that millions of self-driving cabs would be hitting the street by the end of 2026, which currently feels like an extreme long shot. Musk has also claimed that Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot business would generate obscene amounts of revenue -- anywhere up to $10 trillion. But longtime Musk watchers are by now accustomed to hearing him make claims that don't ultimately come true. In short, now more than ever before, Tesla's market value has become a litmus test of how confident investors are in Musk and his personal vision for the tarnished brand. And now that he's had a massive falling out with the president, announcing he would be creating his own political party -- a move that itself left investors largely unimpressed -- the pressure is on. "The Tesla story is about Musk," Integrity Asset Management portfolio manager Joe Gilbert told Bloomberg. "If he can give confidence to the market that he is re-focused on robotaxi and the brand, the stock can work."

Tesla's Q2 earnings slump 23% on falling EV sales

Tesla keeps chugging along -- but in exactly the wrong direction. The company's quarterly earnings report, released after the bell on Wednesday, had it all: disappointing revenue, crunched margins, and a free-cash-flow collapse. The culprit? Fewer car sales, lower average selling prices, and rising expenses tied to CEO Elon Musk's growing AI ambitions. And ambitions don't pay the bills -- at least not yet. The numbers were almost exactly as bad as Wall Street expected. The company posted the steepest drop in quarterly revenue in over a decade: $22.5 billion in revenue, slightly above Wall Street analysts' consensus expectations of $22.3 billion but down from $25.5 billion a year earlier. Tesla's earnings per share came in at $0.40, matching the anticipated $0.40. Net income fell about 16% year-over-year to about $1.17 billion, while operating margin narrowed to 4.1% from 6.3% a year earlier. Operating income cratered 42%. The stock barely rose (under 1%) in after-hours trading -- shares are down over 12% this year. Tesla said it still plans to build a more affordable model, claiming "first builds" happened in June and expects "volume production" of the vehicle in the second half of the year. The long-promised lower-cost car -- the mythical "Model 2" -- is supposed to be a sub-$30,000 EV built on a next-gen platform that's cheaper, faster to produce, and jammed with autonomy features. At the moment, Tesla's least-expensive EV is the Model 3 sedan, which starts at around $43,000. Analysts had largely expected wild results amid a rocky quarter for the company. Tesla's fundamentals -- its core car business -- are weakening. Deliveries, reported earlier this month, showed Tesla's steepest quarterly decline on record. Margins have taken a hit, too: Automotive gross margin slipped even as overall operating income plunged, leaving margins dangerously thin. The company just saw its sales in California's crucial EV market fall by over 20%. Top executives have left the company. And Musk has found himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, largely tied to his recent announcement that he's starting a political party amid his feud with President Donald Trump. Investors haven't been happy. Some have publicly called for Musk to be forced to devote more time to Tesla. Others have called Musk's outside commitments a "soap opera." (Musk's response on X? "Shut up.") UBS recently reiterated its "Sell" rating, calling Tesla "fundamentally overvalued" and warning that the company is leaning harder than ever on hype. Before the earnings, JPMorgan had a $115 price target -- far below current trading levels of around $330 -- and said it sees no near-term catalyst to justify the premium. Meanwhile, William Blair recently downgraded the stock to "Market Perform," warning of concerns that "may be too much for investors to bear." Based on Wednesday's earnings, those concerns are more than justified. Still, Tesla can continue to coast -- a little bit, at least -- thanks to the recent buzz around its robotaxis, which were finally launched in Austin, Texas, about a month ago. The autonomous hype is largely driving the company's stock price (according to RBC, the robotaxis represent about 60% of Tesla's long-term valuation model), and some investors, including Tesla bull Dan Ives, see the EV-maker as "a transformational AI play disguised as an auto company." "Q2 2025 was a seminal point in Tesla's history: the beginning of our transition from leading the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries to also becoming a leader in AI, robotics and related services," the company said in the post-earnings release. Still, that narrative isn't showing up in the numbers just yet. So while the soft earnings were widely expected, they're just further evidence that Tesla is running out of road.

Tesla misses Wall Street expectations on revenue, earnings per share in second quarter earnings

Tesla's second quarter earnings signaled the company continues to go through a difficult patch, with both revenue and adjusted earnings per share missing the average Wall Street estimates. Revenue was $22.5 billion, down approximately 12% year-over-year, the sharpest decline in at least a decade. Adjusted earnings per share were 40 cents, down from 52 cents a year ago. Analysts, on average, had forecast revenue between $22.62-$22.64 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.41-$0.42 per share, with Tesla below the midpoint on each. Tesla's double-digit percentage revenue decline was primarily attributed to the ongoing slump in vehicle deliveries. Improved energy storage deployments and new service offerings provided minor offsets, but could not outweigh the hit from lagging car sales and persistent price competition across the electric vehicle industry. Operating income also fell significantly, coming in at $923 million, which was below consensus estimates of $1.23 billion. Net income dropped year-over-year as margins continued to shrink, pressured by lower average selling prices, higher raw material costs, and global trade headwinds. Tesla had previously reported deliveries of more than 384,000 vehicles in the quarter -- a drop of more than 13% from the previous year -- with production holding steady at just over 410,000 vehicles. This marks the second quarter in a row of reduced year-over-year deliveries. Wall Street had entered the earnings week with tepid expectations, citing declining sales, compressed margins, and elevated spending on research and development as factors dampening short-term prospects. While Tesla's results were slightly weaker than forecast, shares saw only a modest uptick in after-hours trading, as investors focused on the company's long-term ambitions rather than current sales struggles. Tesla's leadership used the earnings release to reaffirm its pivot toward next-generation technologies. CEO Elon Musk highlighted the launch of Tesla's first Robotaxi pilot service in Austin, Texas, along with vague remarks related to the ongoing development of a long-rumored "more affordable" Tesla model. Musk signaled that, amid stiffer automotive competition, Tesla's strategy increasingly centers on breakthroughs in autonomy, artificial intelligence, and energy solutions as pillars for future growth. Multiple challenges continue to weigh on Tesla, including expiring U.S. electric vehicle tax credits in October 2025, ongoing trade disputes and tariffs affecting costs and global supply, and intensifying competition from established automakers and Chinese EV brands. More generally, the brand has growing reputational issues associated with Musk and his support of President Donald Trump, even after the two had a falling out that coincided with fierce criticism of each upon the other. During Musk's brief role helping the administration, his sometimes successful attempts at slashing government spending provoked ire from much of Tesla's traditional customer base, with environmentalist and left-leaning politics. Other investors said they wished the distraction would go away.

Even Elon Musk sounds unconvinced about Tesla's future

For years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has had an uncanny ability to bend the stock market with little more than a promise, some vague gesturing -- and maybe a tweet. His superpower? Conviction. That steely-eyed certainty that whatever he was pitching -- electric semis, self-driving cars, robot butlers -- wasn't just coming. It was coming soon. But on Tesla's second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, that conviction wavered. Musk didn't deliver the usual hype-fueled sermon. Instead, he sounded cautious. Muted. Almost... tired. "We're in this, like, weird transition period," he admitted. "Does that mean we could have a few rough quarters? Yeah, we probably could." That line landed like a splash of cold water. Analysts immediately picked up on it. David Meier, a senior investment analyst at The Motley Fool, told Quartz, "The tone of [Musk's] voice was about as somber as I've ever heard it," he said, noting that his timbre didn't change even as he was talking about all the exciting things Tesla was promising. "Here's my take on the no emotion: Right now, the business is just, it's really struggling." Share prices fell further and further in after-hours trading the longer that Musk talked on his company's earnings call -- and were down around 9% in much of Thursday trading. Tesla's stock has long ridden high on promises of an autonomous future. But Wall Street is starting to notice that the future keeps arriving late -- if it even arrives at all. And now, even Musk isn't selling the dream with his usual gusto. Tesla blamed the drop on rising capital expenditures tied to AI, battery, and robotics spending. But those investments, which are supposed to underwrite Tesla's pivot from car company to AI juggernaut, have yet to pay off. "Robotaxis are not going to do anything about a few rough quarters," Forrester vice president and principal analyst, Paul Miller, told Quartz. "There is no way they will scale fast enough to move the needle over the next few quarters." For years, Musk has been teasing the imminent arrival of Tesla's latest and greatest act. A mass-market EV. A driverless robotaxi fleet. A humanoid robot workforce. But now, even he seems to be recalibrating the timeline. Take the long-promised affordable Tesla. The company confirmed that volume production won't start until the second half of 2025 -- and it will just look like the Model Y. And in the shareholder deck, there was zero mention of Optimus, the company's humanoid robot. But just last quarter, Musk claimed there would be thousands of the robots working in Tesla factories by the end of the year (and a million units per year in less than five years). Musk said on the call that the company is "evolving" the Optimus design to "the point where it is a phenomenal design" -- but the company is still in version 2 or 2.5, not Optimus 3. And there are zero hints of when they might -- actually -- arrive at scale. "It just did seem that little bit more realistic than what he was saying last time," Miller said of Musk's muted claims on the company's robotics piece. "The previous announcement was all about thousands by the end of the year and millions very soon after that." Miller added that Musk's claims on the call that Optimus is walking around the company's office are very different -- and a lot less exciting -- than the robots doing "useful, productive" work. Even full self-driving (FSD), Musk's perennial talking point and a large part of the company's sky-high P/E ratio (175.64), came with caveats. A limited robotaxi pilot is underway in Austin, Texas, where about 10-20 camera-only vehicles are operating in geofenced zones with a safety driver in the passenger seat. That's a far cry from the national network Musk once promised by 2020. This continuing delay between the bold promises and the reality on the ground is starting to erode investor confidence. Meier said that one of Musk's "superpowers" is "to basically say, 'Hey, you know, this is a tough problem; we're going to do our best to solve it. Let me give you a time frame. OK, let me push the time frame back a bit.' Now, to his credit, on many things, he has delivered, but it's not within the time frame that you would expect." Analysts at Wedbush still see promise in the long-term AI story. In a Thursday note, Dan Ives wrote that Tesla is still making "solid progress" on autonomy, with a potential $1 trillion opportunity ahead. But even Ives had to admit the path is long: FSD expansion, he said, will stretch through late 2025; volume robotaxi deployment likely won't arrive until 2026. Musk himself acknowledged regulatory hurdles still ahead, even as he floated aggressive expansion plans in San Francisco, Arizona, and the Netherlands -- some of which regulators have said they haven't even heard about yet. But even that bullish Wedbush scenario won't prop up Tesla's next few quarters. Tesla's EV sales are declining in key markets such as California and Europe, where the company once dominated. Chinese rivals such as BYD and XPeng are surging. And Tesla's clean energy credit revenue -- long a quiet profit booster -- is starting to dry up. The company is also about to lose some key tailwinds. U.S. EV tax credits and international subsidies are phasing out. Tariffs are mounting. Tesla itself acknowledged these headwinds on the call, noting that the next quarter will see around $300 million in added costs from tariffs alone. Right now, the Tesla-as-an-AI-company future remains deeply hypothetical. Meier said that "probably" half of Tesla's value comes from the current business, while "probably" half comes from the company's plans. "And it's a monumental task to essentially create two new businesses -- the robotaxis and the humanoid robot," he said. What's left is a company in limbo. Tesla has slowed R&D spending and lightly refreshed its aging lineup. "The auto segment is in decline, revenues are declining, there's no doubt about that," Meier said. "And [Tesla doesn't] have an immediate thing to pump them up and get them going in the right direction." Meanwhile, the broader EV market is cooling, and hybrid sales are surging. "You've got to deliver growth -- while you're saying, 'Here are the next things coming," Meier said. On the call, Musk acknowledged the mounting challenges. He said there will be "some teething pains" as the world moves from a pre-autonomy era to one dominated by AI-driven, fully autonomous vehicles. The idea that Tesla's future hinges on these ambitious projects isn't in itself new. Musk has long been a master of projecting a future full of transformative potential. He teased a new "master plan" -- but he's already released three of those (in 2006, 2016, and 2023). Now, as the clock ticks past milestones, investors and analysts are increasingly starting to ask: Where is the actual progress? "It's like the fairy story 'The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf," Forrester's Miller said. "The first time you say, 'There's a wolf, everyone wants to help you. The second time, they walk to help you. The third time, one person comes to help you. The fourth time, the entire town goes, 'You're lying.'" But the clock is ticking, and the dream remains largely unfulfilled. Tesla's ability to continue pushing these audacious promises without delivering concrete, near-term results is increasingly strained. Every delay weakens the narrative that Musk has worked so hard to build. But delays are stacking up, and rivals are catching up. Even within the AI space, companies such as Waymo and Zoox are racking up real-world miles in real-world cities, at real-world levels -- while Tesla is still chasing regulatory approval. "The big unanswered question for Tesla is: Is a camera-only system good enough?" Miller said. "It clearly works. But does it work often enough in enough conditions for a very conservative regulator to say, 'Yeah, OK, go on.' Or are the regulators going to be more convinced by the arguments from Waymo and Pony and Zoox and all these others who are putting a variety of sensors onto the vehicle and saying cameras on their own aren't enough?" Musk, ever the showman, still knows how to dangle a shiny object. The Tesla diner in Los Angeles -- part charging station, part retro theme park -- opened this month to fanfare. It has space-themed bathrooms and Optimus robots as display props (they'll bring you popcorn.) But Musk's side quests increasingly feel like a distraction. He's floating a political party. He wants to talk about Grok, his AI chatbot. He wants to start a colony on Mars. And investors want him to focus on his company. "How do you manage three, possibly four, companies?" Meier asked. He added that if Musk is "stretched too thin," it's crucial for him to be surrounded by great people who have bought into the CEO's vision. "If that happens," Meier said, "you could have the most valuable company in the world." But for all of Musk's talk of integration and grand plans, key departures from Tesla's leadership team point to cracks in the execution. "Something must be not quite right," Meier said. He added that "if you can't get someone excited about your vision," it might be time to wave a yellow flag. Tesla still has strengths. It has cash, factories, brand recognition, and a devout user base. It has proven it can refresh its lineup and scale production. And if the long-promised affordable EV does arrive late this year, it could goose demand. Wedbush's Ives said Musk acting as a "wartime CEO" to put Tesla "on an aggressive AI-focused strategy represents the biggest and best possible news" for investors. So some analysts are still excited about the company's future. Musk made a few big claims of his own on the call -- "If Tesla continues to execute well with vehicle autonomy and humanoid robot autonomy, it will be the most valuable company in the world," he said -- even if his heart didn't sound as in it as it usually does when he's pitching the future. For now, the biggest surprise in this earnings season wasn't Tesla's margins or missed estimates. It was the man at the top. Musk didn't promise the moon. He didn't tweet a robotaxi timeline. He didn't call anyone a regulatory wet blanket. Instead, he admitted that things are hard. That the next few quarters may be rough. And that even he isn't sure when the payoff will come. It wasn't exactly inspiring. But in many ways, it was the most realistic thing he's said in years.

Tesla second quarter earnings match forecasts amid slump in vehicle sales - SiliconANGLE

Tesla second quarter earnings match forecasts amid slump in vehicle sales Shares in Tesla Inc. were down more than 3% in later trading today after the electric car maker revealed a slump in vehicle sales, despite reporting quarterly earnings and revenue in line with or just ahead of market expectations. For the quarter that ended on June 30, Tesla reported adjusted earnings per share of 40 cents, down 23% year-over-year, on revenue of $22.5 billion, down 12% year-over-year. The headline figures were either in line with or just ahead of expectations depending on the forecast, with Investing.com reporting that analysts were looking for 40 cents per share and revenue of $22.4 billion, while Barron's says that Wall Street was looking for 39 cents and $22.1 billion. Vehicle deliveries were down 13% year-over-year to 384,112, with the Model 3 and Y seeing sales of 373,728 while other models saw sales of 10,394. The slump in sales saw Tesla report $16.7 billion in automotive revenue in the quarter, down 16% year-over-year. Tesla's energy generation and storage business also saw a decline in the quarter, with revenue down 7% year-over-year to $2.8 billion, although notably, gross profit for the solar business hit a record high of $846 million. In a rare bright spot, the company's services and other business, which includes Tesla's Supercharging network, vehicle maintenance and repairs, parts and accessories, used vehicle sales, insurance, retail merchandise and artificial intelligence-assisted customer support services, was up 17% year-over-year to $3.05 billion. Fresh cash flow in the quarter came in at $146 million, down 89% year-over-year; operating cash flow was down 30% to $2.54 billion and Tesla ended the quarter with cash and investments of $36.8 billion, down $200 million quarter-over-quarter. While car sales may be down amid Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's continued attempts to make both sides of politics dislike him, the quarter was highly notable for the company as it saw the launch of its first Robotaxi service in Austin, representing the start of its broader autonomy and robotics strategy. The quarter also included the first fully autonomous vehicle delivery to a customer, a milestone Tesla claims no other automaker has achieved. The robotaxi service, in particular, has some analysts excited, with Cantor Fitzgerald LP analyst Andres Sheppard, who has an "Overweight" rating on the stock, telling Insider Monkey "Overall, we continue see Tesla's Robotaxi segment as a software-as-a-service, high-margin model and we expect TSLA to have the ability to rapidly scale following commercialization," before adding that "we continue to believe that TSLA will capture a significant share of the autonomous driving and ride-sharing industries." Alongside autonomy, Tesla began early builds of a more affordable EV model in June, with volume production set for the second half of 2025. The company also reiterated that its Cybercab and semi-trailer truck are on track for volume production in 2026. Tesla also continued to scale its AI infrastructure in the quarter and is now operating 67,000 H100-equivalent GPUs, as it positions software and fleet-based services as future profit drivers. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, Tesla says it has sufficient liquidity to fund its product roadmap, expand capacity and remain resilient through shifting tariffs and fiscal conditions.

Tesla Q2 Earnings Preview: Will Robotaxis, AI & 'Wartime CEO' Elon Musk Deliver? - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc. TSLA is expected to provide an update on demand and the performance of its robotaxi tests when the company reports its second-quarter financial results after the market close on Wednesday. Here are the earnings estimates, what analysts are saying and key items to watch. Earnings Estimates: Analysts expect Tesla to report second-quarter revenue of $22.79 billion, down from $25.50 billion in last year's second quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company has missed analyst estimates for revenue in three straight quarters and missed estimates in six of the last seven quarters overall. Analysts expect Tesla to report second-quarter earnings per share of 42 cents per share, down from 52 cents per share in last year's second quarter. The company has missed analyst estimates for earnings per share in two straight quarters and missed estimates in six of the last seven quarters overall. Read Also: Tesla, Musk Jump Into Make America Healthy Again With Beef Tallow Fries At Diner What Analysts Are Saying: Tesla analysts are mixed ahead of the second-quarter report, with several Neutral ratings and downgrades expected in July. One analyst who remains bullish on Tesla is Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a frequent Tesla bull. Ives maintained an Outperform rating and $500 price target on Tesla ahead of the earnings report. Ives said the Street will focus on demand stabilization and robotaxi expansion. The analyst also highlighted the differences between Tesla's performance in July and April. "On the April earnings call the big focus was Musk officially leaving the Trump Administration and pressure to refocus on being CEO on Tesla...now investors are seeing more of a 'wartime CEO' as Elon is laser focused on the Robotaxi expansion in Austin," Ives said. Ives said more cities are coming for the Robotaxi expansion, calling it a "key autonomous initiative for the company." "Front and center for investors are the AI initiatives happening under the hood of Tesla with the Street listening carefully for any more direction around a Tesla investment into xAI which will require a shareholder vote later this year." Ives said Tesla is a clear future leader in artificial intelligence and robotics and that could be highlighted during the financial results and conference call. "We believe the autonomous valuation is worth $1 trillion alone to the Tesla story over the next few years." The analyst said Tesla had weakness in China in prior quarters, but the region could be rebounding based on June sales, which were up year-over-year for the first time in eight months. "If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver's seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years." Ives said Tesla is at a "positive crossroads" in its story with Musk focused as the CEO, robotaxi expansion beginning, demand stabilization coming and the company ready to embark on aggressive AI growth. Bank of America analysts maintained a Neutral rating on Tesla ahead of the report, while raising the price target from $305 to $341. The analysts raised the price target due to optimism for robotaxis and the promise to have unsupervised FSD in place by the end of 2025. Bank of America remained cautious about the pressures on the EV industry overall due to the elimination of federal tax credits. "Tesla is the most challenged among the three OEMs given disappointing deliveries, IRA incentives phasing out, and tariffs," the analysts said. Here are other recent analyst ratings on Tesla and their price targets: * Goldman Sachs: Maintained Neutral rating, lowered price target from $315 to $285 * Mizuho: Maintained Outperform rating, lowered price target from $390 to $375 * Guggenheim: Reiterated Sell rating with $175 price target * William Blair: Downgraded from Outperform to Market Perform rating with no price target Key Items to Watch: Investors and analysts will be watching many items in Tesla's financial results and conference call including robotaxis, tariffs, Tesla Diner, Cybertruck demand, EV tax credits, Trump administration impact, China, Europe and a vote on xAI ownership. Tesla already reported second-quarter deliveries of 384,122, which were down from 443,956 in last year's second quarter. Production of 410,244 units in the quarter was down slightly from 410,831 in last year's second quarter. Among the items closely watched in demand is the Cybertruck. While Tesla doesn't break out the newer vehicle individually, reports suggest that the Cybertruck has fallen behind the F-150 Lightning and Hummer EV for third place among electric pickup trucks. Original production plans called for capacity to make 250,000 Cybertrucks annually, but the vehicle is selling less than 50,000 per year. Tesla could comment on the future of the vehicle. Tesla probably won't comment on or take action regarding its Bitcoin (CRYPTO). Still, it could become a future catalyst with the elimination of corporate tax credits for EV companies acquired by other automakers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk will likely be asked multiple questions about the current White House administration and President Donald Trump. After a close friendship, the two had a falling out that could spill over to Tesla. Trump threatened to look into the subsidies that Musk-related companies receive. Trump has also nominated a head of NHTSA who is opposed to autonomous vehicles, a potential roadblock to Tesla's robotaxi growth. After not giving much color on full-year guidance after first-quarter results, investors and analysts will want to hear more. Tesla said its 2025 guidance would be revisited in the second-quarter update, which will be released on Wednesday. Timelines from the company will be closely watched with the first-quarter update, which is expected to confirm that the company remains on track to start production of more affordable models in the first half of 2025 and for the Cybercab to begin volume production in 2026. TSLA Price Action: Tesla stock was up 1.1% to $332.11 on Tuesday versus a 52-week trading range of $182.00 to $488.54. Tesla stock is down 12.4% year-to-date in 2025. TSLATesla Inc $331.450.90% Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full Score Edge Rankings Momentum 53.26 Growth 91.19 Quality 52.54 Value 9.84 Price Trend Short Medium Long Overview Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla's AI Future In Focus After Q2 Earnings - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc TSLA shares are trading marginally lower Tuesday afternoon as investors continue to weigh the company's long-term artificial intelligence ambitions against recent financial headwinds. Here's what investors need to know. Check the latest TSLA stock price here. What To Know: On Monday, Tesla confirmed a landmark $16.5 billion multiyear deal with Samsung Electronics to produce its next-generation AI6 chip in Texas. Analysts called the partnership a "valuable opportunity" for Tesla to gain hands-on foundry experience, something competitor TSMC would not have permitted. Samsung currently builds Tesla's AI4 chip, with TSMC tapped for the upcoming AI5. The AI6 chip is expected to "unlock a far more advanced autonomous capability" for Tesla's future products, including Robotaxi and the Optimus bot. This strategic move follows Tesla's second-quarter earnings report, which missed Wall Street estimates on revenue and earnings. The company posted revenues of $22.5 billion, down 12% year-over-year, which it attributed to lower delivery volumes and pricing pressure. However, Tesla reaffirmed that its new, more affordable models are still planned for the second half of 2025. Analyst ratings have been varied. RBC Capital maintained an Outperform rating on Tuesday, raising its price target to $325. The firm's valuation model points to significant upside from non-automotive segments such as robotaxis and humanoid robots. This contrasts with a downgrade from China Renaissance to Hold on July 25. Looking at the broader market, Morgan Stanley has predicted the self-driving industry could become a $200 billion market by 2030. Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to Benzinga Edge stock rankings, which provide four critical scores to help investors assess stocks, Tesla exhibits a distinct profile. The company posts strong scores for Quality at 71.58 and Momentum at 66.66, along with a solid Growth score of 63.62. These metrics suggest the company has robust financial health, positive price trends and good growth potential. In sharp contrast, TSLA receives a very low score for Value at just 10.15, indicating the stock is considered expensive compared to its underlying financial fundamentals. TSLA Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Tesla shares are trading lower by 1.35% to $321.20 at market close Tuesday. The stock has a 52-week high of $488.54 and a 52-week low of $182. Read Also: BYD Surpasses Tesla In Fortune Global 500 List Amid Sales Slump For Elon Musk's EV Giant Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get StartedHow To Buy TSLA Stock By now, you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Tesla, be it to purchase shares or even attempt to bet against the company. Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy "fractional shares," which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. In the case of Tesla, which is trading at $323.05 at some point today, $100 would buy you 0.31 shares of stock. If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform or a broker who will allow you to "go short" a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading; either way, it allows you to profit from the share price decline. Photo: Courtesy of Tesla TSLATesla Inc$320.81-1.47%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum66.66Growth63.62Quality71.58Value10.15Price TrendShortMediumLongOverview This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

As Earnings Season Heats Up, Tesla's Future Plans Are Under The Microscope - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc TSLA shares are trading flat Wednesday afternoon as investors are bracing for the electric vehicle giant's second-quarter financial results, due after the market close. Here's what investors need to know. What To Know: While headline numbers are expected to show a decline, the focus has shifted sharply towards the company's future growth initiatives, particularly its robotaxi service and broader artificial intelligence ambitions. Analysts project revenue of $22.79 billion and earnings of 42 cents per share, representing significant year-over-year drops. This follows a trend of underperformance, with Tesla missing revenue and earnings estimates in most of the last seven quarters. The company already reported a drop in second-quarter vehicle deliveries to 384,122 units, down from over 443,000 in the same period last year. Despite the expected weakness, some analysts remain bullish. Wedbush's Dan Ives maintains an Outperform rating, arguing that the focus is on CEO Elon Musk's "wartime" leadership and the recent robotaxi launch in Austin. Ives believes Tesla's autonomous technology alone could be worth "$1 trillion," positioning the company as an AI and robotics leader. However, sentiment is mixed, with Guggenheim reiterating a Sell rating. Investors will also be watching for updates on Cybertruck production, the impact of fading EV tax credits and the company's outlook for 2025. Any commentary from Musk on a potential investment in his xAI venture will likely be closely scrutinized. Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to proprietary data from Benzinga Edge, Tesla's stock profile is a tale of extremes. The company receives an exceptionally high score for Growth at 91.26, indicating the platform sees very strong future expansion and profitability prospects. This is sharply contrasted by a very low Value score of 10.00, suggesting the stock is trading at a significant premium to its underlying financial fundamentals. Tesla's other metrics are more moderate, showing solid financial Quality with a score of 55.61 and slightly above-average price Momentum at 59.77. Taken together, the data portrays TSLA as a quintessential high-growth, high-premium investment. Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, TSLA shares are trading flat at $333.55 Wednesday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $488.54 and a 52-week low of $182.00. Read Also: Tesla Is Still Selling Glossy Future - GM Just Shipped 111% More EVs Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get StartedHow To Buy TSLA Stock Besides going to a brokerage platform to purchase a share - or fractional share - of stock, you can also gain access to shares either by buying an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds the stock itself, or by allocating yourself to a strategy in your 401(k) that would seek to acquire shares in a mutual fund or other instrument. For example, in Tesla's case, it is in the Consumer Discretionary sector. An ETF will likely hold shares in many liquid and large companies that help track that sector, allowing an investor to gain exposure to the trends within that segment. Image: Shutterstock TSLATesla Inc$330.24-0.56%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum59.77Growth91.26Quality55.61Value10.00Price TrendShortMediumLongOverview This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Musk's Warning Could Spoil Tesla's Buy-The-Dip Moment - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc TSLA just delivered one of its toughest earnings in years. Second quarter revenue dropped 12% to $22.5 billion, and net income plunged 16%, while vehicle deliveries fell 13.5% year-over-year. Tesla's shares slumped 6%-9% in after-hours and pre-market trading after CEO Elon Musk cautioned the company could face "a few rough quarters" as the $7,500 federal EV tax credit ends and tariffs bite. Tesla stock plummeted over 9% in early trading on Thursday. Track Tesla stock's volatile price movements here. Musk described it as part of a "weird transition period" before autonomy and robotaxi revenue begin to offset losses. Read Also: Gene Munster Says Tesla's Cheaper Model Y Is Like Apple's iPhone Strategy -- But Warns It May Cannibalize Sales Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get StartedThe Dip Tempts Value Hunters Despite the headwinds, some bulls see opportunity. Tesla's long-term AI and autonomy ambitions -- fueled by Dojo, Optimus, and now Robotaxi -- remain intact. And with the stock still up ~60% from April's lows, the recent weakness could simply be a reset before another leg higher, particularly if Robotaxi Day includes even modest surprises. Wedbush's Dan Ives remains confident in the long-term thesis, calling the dip a "pushback, not a pivot." Ives, while cautious, called the stock "rangebound" for now but reaffirmed the long-term AI thesis. Meanwhile, options traders are already betting on a major post-earnings move -- implying over 10% swing potential in either direction. What's Priced In and What Else Might Matter Tesla's valuation at ~60× forward earnings now reflects a significant premium and risk. Musk's guidance shift, combined with macro pressures -- tariffs, incentive loss and policy uncertainty -- have clearly rattled investors . Yet, if Tesla can deliver modest margin resilience or bring Robotaxi news sooner than expected, this dip might prove premature. Tesla's stock may feel like a rollercoaster, but it's no accident. Musk's caution reminds investors that short-term softness is a reality, not just headline noise. For bulls betting on autonomy and autonomy-led economics by late 2026, this dip might be a strategic entry. But only if patience and execution hold up. Tesla remains a high-volatility, high-conviction trade -- embrace only if you believe in the long game. Read Next: As Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman Chase Nvidia AI Chips, Jensen Huang Says 'Just Call Me' -- Here's How Allocation Really Works Photo: Shutterstock TSLATesla Inc$301.87-9.23%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum73.71Growth91.26Quality60.46Value10.00Price TrendShortMediumLongOverview This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla Stock Faces 'Critical Milestone' Ahead: Here's What Analysts Are Flagging As Next Key Catalyst - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Can Tesla Inc's TSLA audacious bet on autonomy and AI outmaneuver mounting market headwinds? As analysts hold their ground despite disappointing earnings, the electric vehicle giant faces a pivotal moment that could redefine its future trajectory. TSLA stock is moving fast. Check the latest price here. The Tesla Analysts: Needham analyst Chris Pierce reiterated a Hold rating on Tesla with no price target. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives maintained an Outperform rating with a $500 price target. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard maintained an Overweight rating with a $355 price target. Read Also: Elon Musk Says Tesla Could Face 'A Few Rough Quarters' As EV Incentives Expire And Trump Tariff Pressures Mount Needham on TSLA: Near-term headwinds could outweigh the long-term outlook for Tesla, Pierce said in a new investor note. "Rideshare as a catalyst looks promising, but it's early," Pierce said. The analyst said the long-term outlook for autonomy, robotics and a new lower-cost vehicle are promising, but could be offset by headwinds and a high valuation. Pierce says Tesla stock is still "expensive" and trades at a 25x multiple for 2030 adjusted EBITDA estimates discounted back to current levels. "FSD adoption as a demand flywheel. Conversations with bullish investor remain focused on Full Self Driving software as a potential catalyst for long term unit growth, with greater consumer exposure to autonomous rideshare." The analyst said volume production of a lower-cost vehicle set for the second half of 2025 remains a "critical milestone for the company" and could increase Tesla's total addressable market size and "capture demand from more cost-sensitive customers." "Bullish robotaxi and humanoid robot estimates drive minimal upside." Wedbush on TSLA: Tesla is making progress with its autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence future, Ives said in a new investor note. The analyst said Tesla is navigating through a difficult demand environment for electric vehicles. "While the company will continue to manage the business strategically to maintain a strong balance sheet during this uncertain period, the company expects to see an acceleration of AI, software, and fleet-based profits over time which will bring higher-margin revenues to the business," Ives said. Ives also highlights Tesla's confirmation that volume production for a lower-cost vehicle is coming in the second half of 2025. "We believe [Tesla] will start to accelerate deliveries into the back-half of this year with the Model Y refresh and into 2026 laying the foundation for the autonomous future." Ives says Musk is now "acting as Wartime CEO" at Tesla after previously spending time away at the White House. "We believe that the upcoming quarters will be critical for TSLA on the autonomous front as Musk & Co. aim to have autonomous ride hailing in half the U.S. population by the end of 2025." The analyst reiterated a call that the autonomous opportunity for Tesla could be worth $1 trillion on its own. "There are still headwinds, tariffs, and clear growth challenges for Tesla over the coming 3-6 months... but Musk now entering the picture as a wartime CEO to put TSLA on an aggressive AI-focused strategy represents the biggest and best possible news for Tesla investors." Cantor on TSLA: The electric vehicle company remaining on track for volume production of several models was the key highlight in the report for Sheppard. The analyst said a key question remains what vehicle demand looks like in the second half of 2025. Sheppard said the key risks to Tesla short and long term include tariffs, competition from Chinese automakers, regulatory approval for FSD and Robotaxi, a slowdown in EV demand and the removal of the federal EV tax credit. "We believe Tesla benefits from future upside from its Full Self-Driving software (plus upcoming Robotaxi segment), the introduction of lower-priced models, a global manufacturing footprint with economies-of-scale, and the industry's largest Charging Infrastructure," Sheppard said. The analyst said Tesla is also likely to benefit from the acceleration of artificial intelligence. TSLA Price Action: Tesla stock is down 8.8% to $303.19 on Thursday versus a 52-week trading range of $182.00 to $488.54. Tesla stock is down 20.1% year-to-date in 2025. Read Next: Tesla Cybertruck Bet Not Paying Off? Ford, GM Outsell EV Giant Photo: Shutterstock TSLATesla Inc$301.82-9.24%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum73.71Growth91.26Quality60.46Value10.00Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk's $30 Trillion Bombast May Haunt Tesla Bulls - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Elon Musk says Tesla Inc's TSLA future isn't just electric -- it's humanoid. But if investors are banking on Optimus to drive Tesla's next trillion-dollar leap, they might want to take a closer look at what's (not) happening behind closed doors. Tesla's stock has been very volatile, see here. Tesla's Sky-High Vision Meets Factory Floor Friction Musk has floated an eye-watering $25-$30 trillion valuation target, claiming Optimus robots could one day eclipse the EV business. But as The Information reported, Tesla has built only hundreds of robots, far short of Musk's promised 5,000 by year-end. And here's the kicker: many of those units are reportedly sitting idle, lacking working hands. Literally. Read Also: Musk's Warning Could Spoil Tesla's Buy-The-Dip Moment What's Behind The Curtain? Tesla isn't just running behind schedule -- it's keeping things unusually quiet. The Optimus program is so secretive that it doesn't even appear on Tesla's organizational chart. Employees need special clearances just to access production areas. For a company that's never been shy about flaunting tech milestones, this level of secrecy feels less like product discipline and more like damage control. It's a familiar pattern. Bold proclamations, aggressive targets, and then a silent slide into reality. The Model 3, the Cybertruck, Full Self-Driving -- all have their own chapters in Musk's Big Book of Missed Timelines. Optimus is shaping up to be the latest entry. When Hype Outpaces Hardware The danger isn't that Tesla won't eventually build a humanoid robot -- it's that Wall Street might already be pricing in an AI-driven windfall that's still years (or decades) away. Cathie Wood, whose valuation Musk himself endorses, has a $2,600 price target for Tesla stock by 2029. This implies a company market cap of around $8.5 trillion by 2029, which is still four years away. For Tesla, which is currently valued at about $1.03 trillion in the market, reaching $30 trillion is definitely way down the timeline. And with AI hype driving market sentiment, even a minor crack in the narrative could jolt Tesla's stock and projected valuation above. Investors who bought the sizzle may soon be forced to evaluate the steak -- or lack thereof. For now, the only thing Optimus seems to be producing at scale is speculation. Read Next: Every Time Musk Ships A Tesla, These EV Sidekicks Quietly Profit Image: Shutterstock TSLATesla Inc$325.382.95%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum66.66Growth63.62Quality71.58Value10.15Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla Investors Grow Skeptical Of Elon Musk's Futuristic Robotaxi Promises, Say Analysts: 'We Love Robotaxis...But We Love Growth Too' - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)

Despite Elon Musk's ambitious promises, Tesla Inc. TSLA is facing skepticism from investors due to its recent financial performance and the CEO's unmet deadlines for autonomous driving. What Happened: Musk's futuristic pledges have historically been enough to divert investor attention from the company's financials. However, this trend seems to be changing, reported CNBC. Check out the current price of TSLA stock here. Following a disappointing earnings report, Musk's announcement of Tesla's imminent transition to driverless electric vehicles and the expansion of its robotaxi service did not appease investors. The stock slumped 5.49% over the past 5 days, centered on the company's pressing challenges, such as increasing competition from lower-cost EV makers, especially in China, and growing political backlash against Musk that has impacted Tesla's brand image in both the U.S. and Europe. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity expressed their love for robotaxis and robots, but emphasized the need for growth in the present. "...we love robotaxis. And robots...But we love growth too, in the here and now. We need the P&L dynamics to turn." Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs described Tesla's robotaxi effort as "still small" with limited technical data points. Despite Musk's bold promises of self-driving cars, humanoid robots, and cheaper EVs, Wall Street is keeping a close eye on Tesla's performance -- particularly as it lags behind Alphabet's GOOGL GOOG Waymo in the U.S. and Baidu's BIDU Apollo Go in China. Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get Started SEE ALSO: Elon Musk Confirms Tesla As the Mystery Big-Tech That Signed $16.5 Billion Chip Contract With Samsung: 'I Will Walk The Line Personally' To Boost Progress (UPDATED) Why It Matters: Tesla's second-quarter earnings were described as a "disaster" by Gary Black, managing director of Future Fund LLC. Black also questioned the hype surrounding Tesla's robotaxi, expressing skepticism about its scalability due to the not fully autonomous nature of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. Furthermore, Tesla's engineering chief, Lars Moravy, signaled a potential shift in the company's strategy, describing Tesla as being in a "big swing moment". This could indicate a shift in focus towards more immediate, tangible projects such as the development of a smaller pickup truck, as opposed to the more futuristic ambitions of Musk. This skepticism and potential shift in strategy highlight the challenges Tesla faces in convincing investors of the viability of its ambitious plans, amid slumping sales and rising competition. Benzinga's Edge Rankings place Tesla in the 58th percentile for quality and the 91.37th percentile for growth, reflecting mixed performance in both areas. Check the detailed report here. READ MORE: Elon Musk Says $20 Trillion Valuation Possible For Tesla Even As Second Quarter Earnings Show Sales, Revenue Decline: 'Extreme Execution Is Needed' Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. BIDUBaidu Inc$90.75-0.06%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum52.36Growth88.30Quality12.66Value95.29Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGAlphabet Inc$195.150.55%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$194.170.51%TSLATesla Inc$322.502.04%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk Thinks Tesla Will Become the World's Most Valuable Company. I Predict Its Stock Could Plunge by 70% (or More) Instead. | The Motley Fool

Tesla's core business is struggling, and its futuristic product platforms are a long way from generating meaningful revenue. Tesla (TSLA 3.49%) is one of the world's largest manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs), but its CEO, Elon Musk, is no longer focused on just selling cars. He's preparing the company for an autonomous future by directing its resources into its full self-driving (FSD) software, its Cybercab robotaxi, and its humanoid robot named Optimus. Musk believes Tesla will become the world's most valuable company by far if those product platforms are successful. But in the here-and-now, 74% of Tesla's total revenue still comes from its EV business, where sales are declining at an alarming pace. Musk held a conference call with investors last Wednesday to discuss Tesla's progress during the second quarter of 2025 (which ended on June 30). His comments suggest that it will be a long time before products like the Cybercab and Optimus are generating enough revenue to offset the struggling EV business, so here's why I predict Tesla stock could plunge by 70% (or more) in the meantime. Tesla is off to a rough start to 2025. It delivered 720,803 EVs during the first six months, which was a 13% decline compared to the same period last year. The drop in sales had a significant impact on the company's total revenue, which suffered a 9% year-over-year decline during the first quarter, followed by an accelerated drop of 12% in the second quarter. Competition is a big reason for Tesla's sluggish sales. While the company's Model Y remains the best-selling car in a handful of countries, consumers more broadly seem to be flocking to other brands. In Germany, for example, Tesla's sales crashed by 60% in June, despite EV sales growing by 8.6% across the country overall. In other words, Tesla is rapidly losing market share in Europe's largest car market. Affordability seems to be a major factor for consumers. China-based BYD sells its entry-level Dolphin Surf EV for around $26,000 in Europe, whereas Tesla's Model 3 (its cheapest EV) starts at $40,000. BYD's sales exploded fourfold in Germany during June, compared to the year-ago period. Fortunately, Tesla plans to release a low-cost EV to compete. It was reportedly designed on the flagship Model Y platform, minus all of its premium features to bring the price down. It just entered production, but only time will tell whether it's enough to pull Tesla's EV business out of its slump. Elon Musk believes the future of Tesla's car business is autonomous. In June, the company launched a supervised, invite-only version of its planned autonomous ride-hailing platform, using its passenger EVs (like the Model Y) with its FSD software installed. They are completing autonomous trips around Austin, Texas, right now, with a human in the passenger seat to keep an eye on things. The test lays a foundation for the rollout of the Cybercab, which is a purpose-designed robotaxi that won't have pedals or even a steering wheel. It will go into mass production next year, and Musk's goal is to have millions of them hauling passengers and even small commercial loads all day and night, earning revenue for Tesla around the clock. Regulators currently stand in the way of a broad robotaxi rollout. Tesla's FSD platform doesn't have approval for unsupervised use in any U.S. states right now, but Musk is hopeful that will soon change. In fact, he believes the company's robotaxi business could have enough coverage to serve half of the entire U.S. population by the end of 2025, likely using a mix of passenger EVs and early versions of the Cybercab. However, during a conference call with investors for the second quarter of 2025, Tesla's Vice President of artificial intelligence, Ashok Elluswamy, said only a "handful" of passenger EVs are currently deployed in Austin for the test program. He did say the operating region around Austin will soon expand tenfold, which should put more cars on the road, but it places the company significantly behind the competition. Alphabet's Waymo, for instance, is already completing over 250,000 paid autonomous trips every week across five U.S. cities completely unsupervised. The idea that Tesla can go from a handful of cars in Austin to serving half of the U.S. population within the next five months -- leapfrogging Waymo in the process -- feels very unrealistic. Tesla's earnings per share (EPS) sank by 18% year over year during the second quarter, which followed a 71% drop in the first quarter. Its trailing-12-month EPS now stands at $1.67, placing its stock at an eyewatering price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 180.7. That makes Tesla five times more expensive than the Nasdaq-100 technology index, which trades at a P/E ratio of 32.5. It's also three times more expensive than Nvidia -- one of the world's highest-quality and fastest-growing companies -- which trades at a P/E ratio of 54.3. If Tesla's earnings continue to shrink, which seems likely based on the state of its EV sales, then its P/E ratio is going to keep climbing unless its stock price plunges. As things stand today, Tesla stock would have to plummet 70% just for its P/E ratio to match Nvidia's (and even further to match the Nasdaq-100). I think that's a real possibility in the near term. The picture might look a little different for investors who are willing to hold Tesla stock for the long term. Dan Ives from Wedbush Securities thinks the company's robotaxi business presents a trillion-dollar opportunity, but that figure might be conservative if it winds up serving half the U.S. population eventually. Then there is the Optimus humanoid robot, which could be a hot product in every manufacturing facility and even in every household one day. It's still an early-stage product, but Tesla just announced version three, which irons out some of the kinks from the previous models. Musk thinks Tesla will be producing 1 million Optimus robots annually five years from now, and he previously said this product could deliver $10 trillion in revenue for the company over the long term. Investors who believe in Tesla's futuristic product platforms could be handsomely rewarded in the long run if they buy the stock right now, despite its sky-high valuation. However, I think patient investors might get a cheaper entry point in the coming months.

Tesla: Weak Quarter, Focus on the Future | The Motley Fool

Tesla's quarter came in largely as expected, with revenue and earnings per share down 12% and 23%, respectively, and coming in at or just above analyst expectations. The company attributed the revenue decline to a decrease in deliveries and lower regulatory credit revenue, coupled with a reduction in average selling price. Energy generation and storage revenue also fell due to lower pricing. But the company remains upbeat about its future. Tesla is still primarily an automaker, generating 74% of revenue this quarter from automotive sales. But the focus this quarter was on what is to come, with the company, in its release, calling the just-finished second quarter "a seminal point" in Tesla's history. "The beginning of our transition from leading the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries to also becoming a leader in AI, robotics, and related services," the report noted. The company said it remains on track to expand its vehicle offering, including ramped-up production volumes for a new more affordable model planned for the second half of this year. The company also expects to start volume production of the Semi model and its autonomous Cybercab -- a specially designed vehicle for autonomous rideshare -- in 2026. Investors came into Tesla earnings with low expectations, with the stock down 17% year to date. So perhaps it is no surprise that the initial reaction was a muted one, with Tesla shares down 1.5% in after-market trading on Wednesday following the release but ahead of the postearnings call. Tesla has always been valued more on what is to come than on the present results. But rarely in recent history has there been so little momentum in the core business, and with tax law changes coming, the automotive regulatory credits that have been a key driver of profitability are soon to disappear. With that in mind, expect investors to pay particular attention to CEO Elon Musk's vision for what is to come, and specifics about the timeline for when new products will actually be available for purchase. The initial Robotaxi service launch in Austin, Texas, using standard Tesla models is progressing, and investors will be keen to hear details about future plans. If all goes to plan, a rollout of a new, more affordable vehicle model could spur revenue growth in the quarters to come, and the company's continued advancements in robotics, autonomous driving, and energy should create new pillars for growth.

Tesla shareS end week in decline amid third straight quarterly loss

July 24 (UPI) -- Tesla's shares price declined 1.74% for the week on Friday, two days after posting declining profits for a third straight quarter amid increased competition and a pending loss of federal tax credits. On Friday, the stock price closed at $316.06, up $10.76, or 3.52%, from the day before, when the stock slumped 8.2%. Its market capitalization slumped to $984.73 billion. Tesla earnings report was released after the market closed on Wednesday. Tesla is down 16.7% year to date but up 43.5% from one year ago, according to NASDAQ. Tesla's price was as low as $284.70 on June 5 when Elon Musk's feud with President Donald Trump intensified and $221.85 on April 8 when stock indexes and bond market were tumbling before Trump announced a pause on harsh tariffs on trading partners. The company's stock price reached a record of 479.86 on Dec. 17 before Trump entered the White House as president again on Jan. 20. Tesla first began trading on June 29, 2010, with an initial price offering of $17 but opened trading at $19 per share. Back then the only car for sale was the Roadster and two years before the Model S hit the market. The top-selling cars are now the Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan. Musk wasn't Tesla founder but he invested early and served as chairman and took over as CEO in 2008. The conference call Thursdsay was light in earnings information and more focused on robotics and artificial intelligence. "The company offered remarkably little detail on some of the most important factors" - like its mysterious new lower-priced model - "making our outlook lean more on imagination than realistic targets," Truist's William Stein, who has a hold rating on Tesla, said in a note after the call in a report by CNN. "I wouldn't say it was a conference call that should be put in the Hall of Fame," Dan Ives of Wdbush Securities, told CNN on Thursday, but said he is still bullish on Tesla's robotics future with Musk in charge. "Communication on the call was less than stellar in terms of details, and I think that definitely played into the selloff that we're seeing." Tesla later told staff Thursday it plans to launch its Robotaxi service in San Francisco this weekend, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider. Tesla has a permit for testing its self-driving software in California with a driver behind the wheel. Earning report Looking back, Tesla sold $22.5 billion worth of products during the second quarter, which is $3 billion less than the $25.5 billion in sales during the same period in 2024. Tesla reported $1.2 billion in earnings profit from April to June, which is down from $1.4 billion a year earlier. The earnings drop is the third straight quarter for the EV maker that last reported an earnings gain during the third quarter last year. Driving much of the loss is a decline in Tesla vehicle sales, which totaled $16.7 billion during the second quarter -- down by 16% from a year ago. Tesla delivered 384,000 vehicles during the second quarter, which is 14% fewer than a year ago, the company announced in July. Several factors have contributed to the decline in Tesla sales, including the end to federal tax credits for buying electric vehicles and increased competition for EV makers in China and elsewhere. Musk recently cautioned investors about the approach of a "few rough quarters" due to the loss of the federal EV tax credits. A recently signed budget bill that Trump dubbed "one big, beautiful bill" eliminates a $7,500 federal tax credit after September. Trump said he does not intend to eliminate federal subsidies for Tesla, though. "I want Elon and all businesses within our country to thrive ... like never before," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday. "The better they do, the better the USA does, and that's good for all of us," Trump added. Tesla also posted a decline in new vehicle registrations in Europe in July and only sold 4,300 units of its Cybertruck during the second quarter. Tesla sold about half as many Cybertrucks during the second quarter than it did a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive. Musk has announced Tesla will soon offer a new EV that costs less after beginning production in June. Industry analysts anticipate it will be similar to Tesla's electric Model Y SUV. Tesla's declining EV sales come as demand for EVs has grown by 1.5% so far in 2025 in the United States and by 32% and 26%, respectively, in China and Europe, Cox Automotive and Rho Motion reported. China's BYD EV maker is growing its market share there, while JATO Dynamics reported Volkswagen has overtaken Tesla as the top EV seller in Europe. Recent political turmoil also has led to negative publicity for Musk and Tesla by extension. Musk's recently controversial activities as the former director of the Department of Government Efficiency, subsequent fallout with Trump and recent announcement of founding a third political party have preceded declines in sales and Tesla's share price. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved. This story was originally published July 25, 2025 at 6:41 PM.

Tesla Earnings Preview: All Eyes on Core Auto Business and Robotaxi Rollout | Investing.com UK

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) faces declining sales and margins amid rising competition, while its energy and autonomous driving segments show potential growth. Investors expect updates on Tesla's robotaxi rollout, with a pilot launch planned for Austin by June 2025. Elon Musk may emphasize the progress and potential of Full Self-Driving (FSD), although regulatory hurdles remain. Tesla's focus on AI and robotics could open new revenue streams and market opportunities beyond traditional vehicle sales. The upcoming loss of U.S. EV tax credits in Q3 2025 could impact Tesla's sales and profitability. The phase-out of these incentives might reduce the affordability of Tesla vehicles for some consumers, potentially affecting demand unless Tesla adapts its strategies or benefits from other incentives and market factors. Tesla earned approximately $3.5 billion from regulatory credits in 2024. Thriving Energy Generation & Storage Business: Tesla's revenue from the Energy Generation and Storage business is on a robust growth trajectory on the back of the strong reception of its Megapack and Powerwall products. Tesla's Optimus robot project, designed as a humanoid robot, aims to automate repetitive and mundane tasks. It would have a transformative impact on several industries like manufacturing, logistics & warehousing, healthcare, retail, and hospitality. The put/Call ratio suggests the following three scenarios: Ali Merchant is a seasoned financial market professional with expertise in Technical Analysis, Treasury & Capital Markets, Trading, Sales, Research, Training, Fund & Relationship Management, Fintech, and Digitalization. He is a CMT charter holder and an active member of CMT Association, USA, American Association of Professional Technical Analysts, and CMT Association of Canada. He has worked on various roles and organizations in North America and the GCC, such as ABN Amro bank, Thomson Reuters, Refinitiv, MAK Allen & Day Capital Partners (WA:CPAP), and Bridge Information Systems.

Tesla says it started building initial versions of an affordable car, posts a steep sales decline

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tesla said on Wednesday it has built initial versions of an affordable car, a move likely meant to stem the steep decline in sales the company has experienced in markets across the world. Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker posted the worst quarterly sales decline in more than a decade and profit that missed Wall Street targets, but its profit margin on making cars was better than many feared. MARKET REACTION: Tesla shares were down nearly 5% in after-hours trading. "Tesla's disappointing results aren't surprising given the rocky road it's traveled recently. But the company maintains a strong foundation in the key growth sectors of energy storage, robotics, and AI-powered transportation. While traditional automakers like GM are gaining EV market share, we can expect that Tesla will continue pushing the needle on innovation if it can get a better handle on its current leadership distractions. Key challenges that will linger are supply chain risks related to its reliance on China and fierce competition from Chinese EV makers in that market. Tesla doesn't need to choose between cars and future tech. There are technical synergies between EVs, robotaxis, energy systems, and robotics that could accelerate innovation across all fronts. The question is whether leadership can execute on this integrated vision in this fast-moving market." ANDREW ROCCO, STOCK STRATEGIST, ZACKS INVESTMENT RESEARCH, CHICAGO: "Tesla delivered earnings Wednesday night that fell short of top-and-bottom line expectations slightly. Despite the earnings miss, Tesla shares were buoyed early by the fact that the bleeding in gross margins has seemingly come to a halt, with gross margins coming in at 17.2% versus Wall Street estimates of 16.5%. The gross margin beat is especially impressive when investors consider that Tesla has been offering generous incentives and lower prices to its consumers. Coming in to the report, Wall Street expectations were dire amid a slowing core EV business and CEO Elon Musk's reputational damage on both sides of the political aisle. Nevertheless, Tesla has limped over the low bar that was a dramatic earnings miss and delivered earnings that were better than most feared. Additionally, news broke right before the market closed that Tesla is in "early talks" with the state of Nevada to expand its robotaxi service. If Tesla can convince investors that it will scale its robotaxi service rapidly, shareholders will be more forgiving regarding the core EV business, as Musk and his team look to expand into new verticals, transitioning and diversifying the business." THOMAS MONTEIRO, SENIOR ANALYST, INVESTING.COM: "Although still far from what fundamentals would suggest for a trillion-dollar company, Tesla's latest numbers do spark some optimism, indicating that the worst is likely behind it--at least in terms of the core auto business. Given the plethora of headwinds faced during the difficult Q2 - both internally and on the macro front - margin deterioration appears to have come in at the lower end of the curve. When combined with improving cyclical demand dynamics in markets like China and parts of the US, this suggests that full-year results might not be as dire as previously expected following the disastrous first half of the year. This also shows that the company has weathered the tariff storm somewhat better than initially projected, optimizing the production/delivery equation in the US. While it remains unclear how much of a hit regulatory credits will take in Q3, it's evident the company will need to continue refining its production strategy elsewhere to better navigate the second half. From this perspective, recent product announcements are aligned with those strategic needs--particularly around the highly anticipated Model 2. With Tesla entering the Indian market and working to regain ground in China, we view this as a potential game-changer for H2. All things considered--and while we're still a ways off from seeing true fundamental support for the current share price--the outlook for the core business is looking somewhat better. This could continue to support Tesla's long-term transition into a fully AI/robotics-driven company, which appears to be where Musk is placing his bets." (Compiled by Reuters NewsEditing by Matthew Lewis)

Transcript : Tesla, Inc., Q2 2025 Earnings Call, Jul 23, 2025

A couple of weeks or so. And we're getting the regulatory permission to launch in the Bay Area, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and a number of other places. So as we get the approvals and we prove out safety, then we will be launching autonomous ride-hailing in most of the country. And I think we'll probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year. That's at least our goal, subject to regulatory approvals. I think we'll technically be able to do it. So assuming we get regulatory approvals, it's probably addressing half of the population in the U.S. by the end of the year. But we are being very cautious. We don't want to take any chances. And so we're going to go cautiously. But the service areas and the number of vehicles in operation will increase at a hyper-exponential rate. So some other notable things. Model Y in June became the best-selling car in Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. It is, I believe, the best-selling car of any kind in the world still. And autonomy is a big factor there. So even without -- even absent -- even without supervised -- even with just supervised self-driving, it's a huge selling point. And it's worth noting that we do not actually yet have approval for supervised FSD in Europe. So our sales in Europe, we think, will improve significantly once we are able to give customers the same experience that they have in the U.S. This is, I think, a very important point to convey. And we've been working with our main country regulator, which is the Netherlands. And I think we're close to getting approval with the Netherlands, then it's got to go to the EU. It's quite Kafka-esque. In fact, Kafka had no idea that something like the EU could exist beyond Kafka-esque challenges with bureaucracy. But we will get the approvals. And I think we'll get -- some people in Europe will have an experience similar to that of the U.S. in most of Europe this year, hopefully, at least partly in this quarter. And then we also have some regulatory challenges in China, which we're hoping to unblock shortly where we -- because we also cannot provide supervised FSD in China currently, but we hope to unblock that soon. That's also -- that's another major -- it really is the single biggest demand driver. And then within the U.S., as we get confident about safety in different geographic areas, we'll loosen up on how much somebody has to be laser-focused -- to have their eyes laser-focused on the road. That's been a common complaint. In fact, it does create an odd safety issue where people will sometimes disengage autopilot, then do something, change the radio or maybe look at the phone, drive with their knee and then reengage autopilot, which obviously is less safe than simply keeping autopilot on. So anyway, that experience will improve in the next several weeks. Because of our focus on Austin with no one in the driver seat, the production release of autopilot is actually several months behind what people experience on a robotaxi in Austin. So now we have the robotaxi launched, we'll be adding back those elements so that there will be a step-change improvement in the autopilot experience for people outside of Austin. So this is really -- as you can tell, this is very much sort of autonomy is the story. Like we need the physical product, without which you cannot have autonomy. But once you have a physical product, you need -- the autonomy is what amplifies the value to stratospheric levels. We also launched the Tesla Diner, which has been a huge hit. It actually got worldwide attention, which is unusual for a diner. Diners don't typically get headline news around the earth. But this is a pretty special diner. And if you're in the L.A. area, it's worth visiting. It's sort of a shining beacon of hope in an otherwise sort of bleak open landscape, frankly. So it's really quite a lovely experience. Great job by the Tesla team there. On the full self-driving front, I'll continue talking about that. We have -- we're continuing to make significant improvements just with the software. So we're expecting to increase the parameter count. Actually, at this point, we think we can probably 10x the -- almost 10x the parameter count. Yes, roughly 10x the parameter count. So this is actually a very tricky thing to do because, as you increase the parameter count, you get choked on memory bandwidth. But we currently think we can 10x the parameter count from what people are currently experiencing. So not just 4x, actually 10x increase in parameter count. And yes, so still a lot of improvement on the existing hardware to happen. Energy is growing really well despite headwinds from tariffs and supply chain challenges. The Megapack is expanding capacity quickly, and we have upgrades to the Megapack that will make it even better. And we had record powerwall deployment again in Q2. So I think batteries are just going to be a massive thing. The scale of batteries, battery demand, I think, not that many people appreciate just how gigantic the scale of battery demand is. The way to think about it is that the U.S. sustained power output for the U.S. grid is around 1 terawatt but average usage is less than half a terawatt. If you add batteries to the mix, you can run the power plants 24/7 at full capacity, thus doubling -- more than doubling the energy output per year of the United States just with batteries. But that's again a big deal. It's a really big deal. Optimus, so we're evolving the Optimus design and really getting Optimus to the point where it is a phenomenal design. So we're in Optimus version 2 right now, sort of 2.5. Optimus 3 is an exquisite design, in my opinion, and will be -- as I've said many times before, I predict it will be the biggest product ever. It's a very hard problem to solve. You have to design every part of it from physics first principles. There's nothing that's off the shelf that actually works. So you got to design every motor, gearbox, power electronics, control electronics, sensors, the mechanical elements. We also got to train Optimus to use its limb sensors with a neural net. But we'll be applying the same techniques that we applied for our car, which is essentially a 4-wheel robot. And Optimus is a robot with arms and legs. So put the same principles that apply to optimizing AI inference on the car, apply it to Optimus because they're both really robots in different forms. And Tesla, it is important to note that Tesla is by far the best in the world at real-world AI. Like a clear proof point for that would be -- if you compare, say, Tesla to Waymo, Waymo has got -- the car is festooned with God knows how many sensors. And yet, isn't Google good at AI? Yes, but they're not good at real-world AI. Thus far, they have -- Tesla is actually much better than Google by far and much than anyone at real-world AI. And by far, Tesla has the best inference efficiency. Like I think a key figure of merit for AI is what is the intelligence per gigabyte. And people talk about parameters, blah, blah, blah, but I think we'll -- stop talking about parameters and talk about per gigabytes because with the parameters, you can have 4-bit parameters, 8-bit parameters, 16-bit parameters. But the actual constraints in the hardware are how many gigabytes of RAM and how many gigabytes per second can you transfer from RAM. Therefore, it is not a parameter constraint. It is a byte constraint. And Tesla has the highest intelligence density of any AI by far. And I have a lot of insight into this with xAI. xAI is -- Grok is the smartest AI overall, but it's -- Grok 4 is a giant beast sort of at the terabyte level. And so kind of important to note, Tesla has the best intelligence density. Intelligence density will be a very big deal in the future. It is now. So with Optimus 3, which is really the right design, it's like it doesn't have -- at this point, there's no significant flaws with the Optimus 3 design. But we are going to retool a bunch of things. So there will probably be prototypes of Optimus 3 end of this year and then scale production next year. We're going to try to scale Optimus production as fast as it's humanly possible to do, so we'll try to get to 1 million units a year as quickly as possible. We think we can get there in less than 5 years, it's my sort of -- I guess. That's a reasonable aspiration, 1 million units a year, 5 years, it seems like an achievable target. So in conclusion, so far, 2025 has been a very exciting year, a lot of major milestones. We've made it clear with our demonstrable progress in autonomy that a lot of naysayers said we would not achieve. But it's worth noting that we have done what we said we're going to do. It doesn't mean we're always on time, but we get it done. Now the naysayers are sitting there with an egg on their face. So a great progress by the Tesla team. I do think if Tesla continues to execute well with vehicle autonomy and humanoid robot autonomy, it will be the most valuable company in the world. There's a lot of execution between here and there. It doesn't just happen. But provided we execute very well, I think Tesla has a shot at being the most valuable company in the world. Obviously, I'm extremely optimistic about the future of the company. The best way to predict the future is to make it happen, and we're making it happen here with the Tesla team. So I'd just like to say thanks to all of our supporters. And I think we've got an incredibly exciting future.