Investor's Corner
Tesla Earnings is tomorrow – Here’s what analysts think you should be looking for
Tesla is set to report its earnings for the second quarter tomorrow afternoon, and analysts are preparing for a variety of different things as the call is expected to have a different feel than previous ones.
Tesla Head of Investor Relations Martin Viecha announced last quarter that he would no longer be on any Earnings Calls moving forward as he was stepping down from his position. CEO Elon Musk will be on the call, and will navigate questions regarding what was a strong second quarter from analysts and investors alike.
Taking focus during this quarter will be several relevant topics during the first half of 2024 for Tesla. The company’s Robotaxi event, originally scheduled for August, has been pushed back to what Bloomberg reported as October.
Tesla Robotaxi unveiling event pushed back from August: report
Additionally, Tesla’s quarter was filled with various headlines — a 10 to 20 percent reduction in global workforce, a delivery beat, and a relative focus on artificial intelligence as Full Self-Driving and Optimus continue to be the center of discussions surrounding the company’s future.
However, analysts believe something else might be a topic worth mentioning: margins.
Tesla’s Margins
Wall Street, according to Reuters, expects Tesla’s automotive gross margin to slip to 16.27 percent. This would be the lowest since Q1 2019. It was over 18 percent in Q2 2023 and 16.36 percent in Q1 2024.
This is likely due to Tesla’s incredibly attractive financing discounts, which it rolled out twice during Q2. Analysts believe margins are going to increase back to normal levels in 2025 as Cybertruck continues its production ramp, which will ease the pressure associated with the costs of building a new vehicle.
Paul Marino of GraniteShares said:
“AI and robotaxi is such a huge opportunity over the next two, three, five years. So if you’re a long-term believer, you’re going to take the margins like your medicine.”
Robotaxi and Full Self-Driving
A main focus of the call for Tesla investors will be the rollout of Robotaxi and an update on the progress of Full Self-Driving (FSD). Tesla did delay its Robotaxi unveiling event, which was set for August 8, and it is expected to be in October.
The two-month delay is nothing too unsettling for long-term investors who have a belief in the company and Musk.
Wedbush talked about the lack of real impact the delay has on the long-term:
“While the knee-jerk reaction will clearly be negative on a delay of August 8th based on this report that just hit, we believe the timing of robotaxis, partnerships, and the ultimate autonomous and AI-driven technology does not change at all for our bullish Tesla thesis.”
Dan Ives also said in his note that the delay could actually be looked at as a positive:
“To some extent, we believe this 2-month delay could just make the actual Robotaxi event and prototypes even better, and more eye-popping for Tesla as Musk and the team know this unlocks the key to the long-term future of the Tesla story, and investors want MORE details…not less at this historic event.”
Delivery Beat
Tesla reported delivery figures for the quarter at the beginning of the month and they were quite encouraging, all things considered. Beating Wall Street consensus figures by roughly 6,000 vehicles, Tesla stock saw a drastic increase in price since the report:
Tesla reports Q2 delivery and production figures, beating estimates
Up over 35 percent in the past month on the market, Tesla canceled out any losses it felt through the first six months.
Along with the strong delivery figures, Tesla Energy reported its biggest quarter to date, with 9.4 GWh of deployments reported in Q2.
Tesla Energy could be one of the bigger factors in future earnings reports. Baird’s Ben Kallo said Q2 numbers “should be good largely (but not only) due to strength in energy:”
“We think a more stable pricing environment during the quarter, higher revenue from full self-driving, and the large beat in its energy segment all support a solid quarter.”
Tesla will report its Q2 Earnings tomorrow after the market closes. It will be followed by an Earnings Call with Musk and other executives.
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There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
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Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020.
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees
As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay.
As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.
The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.
Other settlement terms still intact
The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million.
Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”
The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call: The most important points
Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call highlighted improving margins, record energy performance, expanding autonomy efforts, and a sharp acceleration in AI and robotics investments.
Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.
Key takeaways
Tesla reported sequential improvement in automotive gross margins excluding regulatory credits, rising from 15.4% to 17.9%, supported by favorable regional mix effects despite a 16% decline in deliveries. Total gross margin exceeded 20.1%, the highest level in more than two years, even with lower fixed-cost absorption and tariff impacts.
The energy business delivered standout results, with revenue reaching nearly $12.8 billion, up 26.6% year over year. Energy gross profit hit a new quarterly record, driven by strong global demand and high deployments of MegaPack and Powerwall across all regions, as noted in a report from The Motley Fool.
Tesla also stated that paid Full Self-Driving customers have climbed to nearly 1.1 million worldwide, with about 70% having purchased FSD outright. The company has now fully transitioned FSD to a subscription-based sales model, which should create a short-term margin headwind for automotive results.
Free cash flow totaled $1.4 billion for the quarter. Operating expenses rose by $500 million sequentially as well.
Production shifts, robotics, and AI investment
Musk further confirmed that Model S and Model X production is expected to wind down next quarter, and plans are underway to convert Fremont’s S/X line into an Optimus robot factory with a capacity of one million units.
Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet has surpassed 500 vehicles, operating across the Bay Area and Austin, with Musk noting a rapid monthly expansion pace. He also reiterated that CyberCab production is expected to begin in April, following a slow initial S-curve ramp before scaling beyond other vehicle programs.
Looking ahead, Tesla expects its capital expenditures to exceed $20 billion next year, thanks to the company’s operations across its six factories, the expansion of its fleet expansion, and the ramp of its AI compute. Additional investments in AI chips, compute infrastructure, and future in-house semiconductor manufacturing were discussed but are not included in the company’s current CapEx guidance.
More importantly, Tesla ended the year with a larger backlog than in recent years. This is supported by record deliveries in smaller international markets and stronger demand across APAC and EMEA. Energy backlog remains strong globally as well, though Tesla cautioned that margin pressure could emerge from competition, policy uncertainty, and tariffs.
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