Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Announces Earnings Results

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $28.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.06 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 3.07% and a net margin of 3.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Tesla’s conference call:

• Demand and production remain strong: Tesla said vehicle demand is significantly exceeding production, with its highest backlog in four years and more than 480,000 deliveries for a second consecutive quarter. Automotive gross margin excluding credits improved to 18.1%, while paid FSD customers surpassed 1.7 million.
• Energy storage and autonomy are scaling: Energy deployments reached 13.7 GWh, energy gross margin rose to 33.1%, and Tesla said nearly all Megapack capacity for 2027 is sold. Robotaxi unsupervised miles and the Austin Cybercab fleet are growing rapidly, with launches planned for additional cities.
• Major investments and costs are rising: Tesla expects capital expenditures of approximately $20 billion this year, has secured borrowing capacity of up to $30 billion, and said CapEx will continue expanding for Robotaxis, Optimus, solar, compute infrastructure, and semiconductor manufacturing. Energy-margin gains were also partly helped by tariff refunds and warranty-related adjustments, which may not be recurring.
• Optimus remains several milestones away from commercialization: Tesla expects roughly a year or longer to reach its targeted production rate and does not anticipate delivering robots to external customers until around the end of next year. Executives cited ongoing AI, reliability, electromechanical, and especially hand-design challenges.
• Terafab is a long-term, capital-intensive initiative: Tesla expects to commission research-fab equipment in the first half of next year, produce a first test chip around May or June, and potentially reach useful chip production at volume in late 2028. Management described the project as strategically important but said it will require tens of billions of dollars in capital.

Tesla Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded down $2.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $372.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,729,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,428,512. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $363.41 and a 200-day moving average of $377.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 342.27, a PEG ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Tesla has a 12-month low of $297.38 and a 12-month high of $498.83.

Key Tesla News

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tesla reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.48, exceeding the $0.45 consensus estimate, while generating approximately $1.5 billion in free cash flow versus expectations for a cash outflow. Its passenger-vehicle backlog also reached a four-year high. Tesla revenue beats estimates
• Positive Sentiment: More than 75% of new North American deliveries included paid Full Self-Driving, with subscriptions reportedly rising 67% year over year. Bulls view growing software adoption as evidence Tesla could eventually become less dependent on vehicle sales. FSD subscriptions surge
• Positive Sentiment: Plans to expand Cybercab robotaxi operations beyond Austin, begin limited customer deliveries by year-end and start Optimus production provide potential long-term catalysts. Musk also said Tesla may build 10,000 to 20,000 Optimus robots for training data. Tesla Cybercab plans
• Positive Sentiment: Energea committed up to $20 million to finance Tesla Supercharger deployments, supporting Tesla’s charging-network expansion and energy-infrastructure strategy. Energea Supercharger commitment
• Neutral Sentiment: Tesla and SpaceX formed special committees to study a possible combination after Musk called a merger a “good idea.” The prospect creates potential synergies in chips, AI, robotics and connectivity, but terms, shareholder approval, conflicts of interest and regulatory reviews remain unresolved. SpaceX Tesla merger discussions
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue was essentially flat year over year at about $28.05 billion. Automotive revenue fell 3%, energy-generation and storage revenue fell 16%, and operating income dropped sharply as AI, robotics and autonomy costs increased. Tesla automotive and energy revenue
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla reduced its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast from roughly $25 billion to $20 billion. While the cut may improve near-term cash flow, investors worry it signals slower progress in AI infrastructure, robotaxis and Optimus. Tesla spending pullback
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla abandoned plans to sell the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand and will refund reservation deposits, highlighting product, regulatory and international-demand risks. Cybertruck Australia cancellation
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts continue to caution that Tesla’s extreme valuation assumes successful execution of FSD, robotaxis and robotics. Execution delays, China approval hurdles and a broad technology-stock selloff are amplifying downside risk.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.13, for a total value of $938,498.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 25,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,353,296.36. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Tesla in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Tesla from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $266.00 to $420.00 in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $505.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $408.61.

About Tesla

Tesla, Inc is an electric vehicle and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003, the company designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y and Cybertruck. Tesla also develops vehicle software, driver-assistance features and related services intended to support the operation and ownership of its vehicles.

Beyond automobiles, Tesla produces energy storage products for residential, commercial and utility-scale applications, including the Powerwall and Megapack.