Tesla (TSLA) reported mixed results for the second quarter after hours on Tuesday, although the electric car maker said it was on track for production of new vehicles, likely a cheaper electric car, in the first half of 2025. Tesla also said its growth rate in 2024 would be “significantly lower” than it achieved in 2023.
For the quarter, Tesla reported second-quarter revenue of $25.05 billion, compared with $24.63 billion expected, according to the Bloomberg consensus, slightly higher than the $24.93 Tesla reported a year ago. Tesla reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.52, compared with $0.60 expected, on $1.8 billion in non-GAAP net income.
Tesla shares fell more than 4% in after-hours trading.
“Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for production start in the first half of 2025. These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same production lines as our current vehicle lineup,” Tesla said in its second-quarter earnings report.
Many analysts and industry watchers believe that the debut and launch of a cheaper electric car will spur the next stage of higher sales of electric cars – something even Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said before.
On the conference call, Musk said the company would unveil its robot taxi on October 10, which was originally scheduled for August 8. Musk said Tesla would show “a couple of other things” at the event as well.
Tesla said robotaxi would incorporate the “unpackaged manufacturing approach” it had previously proposed.
“Addressing the delay in Robotaxi Day and the new timing will be important to hear on the conference call because we believe a key to Tesla reaching a $1 trillion+ valuation and ultimately higher in the next year is dependent on AI /FSD story is materializing into a monetization path in the coming years,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note published Monday.
As for its other vehicles, Tesla said Cybertruck production more than tripled compared to Q1, and that the vehicle is on track to “reach profitability” by the end of the year. Tesla said its semi factory is also on track to begin production in late 2025
Tesla delivered 443,956 vehicles globally in the second quarter, beating the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 439,302, but down nearly 5% from a year ago. However, Q2’s delivery total was a significant improvement from the 386,810 vehicles delivered in Q1, a quarter that had many deeply concerned demand for Tesla’s vehicles was in freefall.
“We believe Tesla’s demand story has turned to the positive after a tough last 6-9 months with stronger-than-expected Q2 deliveries earlier this month, marking a major ‘turning point’ in the Tesla bull run looking ahead to 2H24 /2025,” Ives said.
One area of surprise in Teslas production and delivery report for the second quarter was a disclosure that it used 9.4 GWh (gigawatt-hours) of battery energy storage, its highest quarterly amount ever, and more than double the amount of battery storage the company used in the first quarter.
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas called Tesla’s storage figure for Q2 energy deployment a “show stealer,” noting that the 9.4 GWh used was double the company’s forecast.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering the automotive industry. You can follow him further X and again Instagram.
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