Tesla shares saw a 12% jump after reporting its third quarter earnings on Wednesday. The electric car manufacturer was able to bounce back from a tough second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations for earnings per share. The company reported an earnings-per-share of $0.72, surpassing investors’ projection of $0.60.
At the end of the second quarter, Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, said the nearly 50% drop in profits was temporary and due to difficulty competing with cheaper or price-slashed electric vehicles by rival companies such as BYD. “We don’t see this as a long-term issue,” Musk said in July, “but really fairly short term.”
Tesla came slightly under expected revenue, however. The company reported $25.18bn in revenue at the end of the third quarter, just missing Wall Street revenue projections of $25.43bn.
“Despite sustained macroeconomic headwinds and others pulling back on EV investments, we remain focused on expanding our vehicle and energy product lineup, reducing costs and making critical investments in AI projects and production capacity,” the company said in a press release. “We believe these efforts will allow us to capitalize on the ongoing transition in the transportation and energy sectors.”
On the earnings call on Wednesday, Musk said that Tesla had a record third quarter and believes Tesla will become the most profitable company in the world if they execute on their plans.
“Tesla is focused on the future of energy, transport, robotics and AI and this is a time where others are focused on just managing on near terms,” Musk said. “We think what we’re doing is the right approach and if we execute on our objectives, and I think we will, my prediction is Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world, probably by a long shot.”
At the moment, he says he doesn’t know of any electric vehicle manufacturer that is currently profitable.
Tesla delivered 462,890 vehicles at the end of the third quarter, up from 443,956 in the second quarter. Investors will be looking to hear more about whether the company is on track to match its 2023 vehicle deliveries of 1.8m. The company said that it expected slight growth in vehicle deliveries by the end of the year. Dan Ives, of financial services firm Wedbush Securities, remains confident. Meeting that goal will be “a solid feat given the extensive white-knuckle moments seen throughout the first half of the year”, he said in a note to investors.
Investors will also be looking for more information about the company’s robotaxis following a disappointing launch event. After unveiling the company’s much-hyped robotaxi earlier this month with scant details, Tesla shares dropped by just under 9% and wiped more than $60bn from the company’s value. At the time, Tom Narayan, an analyst at the Royal Bank of Canada, said in a note to investors that the event was more focused on branding and marketing Musk’s vision “rather than giving concrete numbers for us to model out” as is expected at these events.
Musk made some lofty predictions about the Cybercab ride-hail network. He said that Cybercab will reach volume production in 2026 and Tesla is aiming to produce 2m a year. He also said Tesla expects to roll out ride-hailing to the public in California and Texas next year, “ but it’s contingent on regulatory approval”, Musk said. “And maybe some other states next year but at least California and Texas.” Musk, who has been campaigning on behalf of Donald Trump, also called for a federal pathway to regulate autonomous vehicles.
Musk said he also plans to integrate Grok, the generative AI chatbot being developed by his startup xAI, into Tesla vehicles. Grok is already integrated into Musk-owned X. He also hinted that Tesla may consider developing flying cars.
Musk may also have to answer for his recent focus on politics. In addition to starting the America Pac, the X chief executive has been on the campaign trail on behalf of Donald Trump and has started a $1m daily sweepstakes for swing state voters who sign his petition. The giveaway has brought up legal questions, sparking calls for law enforcement to investigate Musk and the practice from people such as the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro. It is a federal crime to try to pay people to vote or register to vote.
Musk’s activities seem to be having an impact on consumer sentiment around purchasing Teslas. Thirty-one per cent of shoppers surveyed by Edmunds, a car buying website, said they are less likely to buy a Tesla because of Musk, while 37% of those surveyed said they’re waiting for the election results to decide whether to buy a Tesla and 44% of Democratic women said they’re not as likely to buy a Tesla because of Musk.
Overall demand for electric vehicles continues to increase, however. US EV market share hit an all-time high at 8.3%, up from 7.5% in the same quarter of 2023, according to Edmunds.
Musk is facing legal scrutiny elsewhere as well. The EU is considering fining X based on total sales by SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company. The bloc alleges the social media company failed to address illegal content and disinformation on its platform. Fines can be as much as 6% of the yearly revenue of a company. Tesla will likely be exempt from that fine, however, as it is a public company and not wholly owned by Musk.
