Tesla stock slipped more than 4% after hours as the EV maker delivered revenue ahead of estimates but profit that missed Wall Street’s expectations.
Tesla’s record Q2 vehicle deliveries helped drive $28.24 billion in revenue, topping analysts’ estimates of $26.31 billion. Quarterly profit was far below expectations, with adjusted EPS of 33 cents versus estimates of 50 cents.
“Q2 was a strong quarter for our core vehicle, energy and services businesses as well as our manufacturing, infrastructure and AI initiatives,” the company said in its earnings release.
The second-quarter report is Tesla’s first since Elon Musk’s other big company went public last month.
On an analyst call following the results, Musk stayed mum on SpaceX-Tesla merger chatter, but highlighted synergies between the two companies. Bulls say that a tie-up of the two companies is a natural fit and would streamline some of Musk’s goals.
Tesla expects to spend more than ever in the coming quarter. The company said that it is in its “largest and most exciting period of investment.” Musk said that Tesla should be spending on capex “as fast as we can without being too wasteful.”
Musk also sought to temper expectations for the production of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, saying it will have a flat, long start to its production S-curve. He stressed manufacturing the robot is extremely challenging.
On the robotaxi front, Tesla’s executives said a careful rollout was key to avoiding any incidents that could damage the technology’s reputation. They said Tesla has completed 380,000 miles of unsupervised robotaxi rides with zero “notable incidents.”
Musk and other Tesla executives also talked about supply chain constraints (Micron got a Musk shout-out for allocating memory chips during the shortage), Cybercab, and Semi production on the analyst call — follow along for the play-by-play:
