Investor's Corner
Tesla crushes Q3 2019 results and returns to profitability
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) third-quarter earnings for 2019 saw the electric car maker post $6.3 billion in revenue, meeting Wall Street estimates. The results, which were discussed at length in an Update Letter, were released after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 23.
The following are the key points in Tesla’s Q3 Update Letter.
EARNINGS
Tesla shareholders saw earnings per share of $1.91. In contrast, analysts polled by FactSet expected Tesla to report an adjusted quarterly loss of $0.46 a share for Q3 2019. Estimize, a crowdsourced platform that aggregates estimates from analysts, executives, fund managers, and academics, expected Tesla to report an adjusted loss of $0.29 per share.
REVENUE
Tesla reported revenue of $6.3 billion for the third quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Tesla to report sales of $6.45 billion in the third quarter, while Estimize placed Tesla at a slightly more optimistic $6.60 billion.
Tesla Q3 results:
– Shanghai Giga ahead of schedule
– Model Y ahead of schedule
– Solar installs +48% from Q2
– GAAP profitable
– Positive free cash flow— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 23, 2019
RELATED: Top 5 things Tesla (TSLA) investors want to know from the Q3 2019 earnings call
Overall, Tesla’s results are a pleasant surprise for supporters of the electric car maker. Even CEO Elon Musk, after all, proved tempered with his expectations for the third quarter, stating during the second-quarter earnings call that he expects a small loss in Q3 2019. The company’s vehicle delivery figures in Q3 did not help this case, as the company was unable to meet Elon Musk’s internal goal of delivering 100,000 electric cars in the third quarter, delivering around 97,000 vehicles during the quarter.
TESLA MODEL Y PRODUCTION
Apart from its encouraging financials, Tesla also shared a number of optimistic updates for its vehicles and its budding Energy business. The Model Y, a crossover SUV that is expected to be even more popular than the widely-successful Tesla Model 3, has had its estimated deliveries move up to Summer 2020. During the vehicle’s unveiling, Musk proved conservative, giving an estimate of Fall 2020 (about a year from now) for the Model Y to begin customer deliveries.
GIGAFACTORY 3 PROGRESS
Tesla has also confirmed reports from China that Gigafactory 3 is progressing ahead of schedule. Previous reports from local media outlets have already hinted at this in recent months, and Tesla’s validation of these reports proved enough to shift the narrative back into the electric car maker’s favor.
“We are already producing full vehicles on a trial basis, from body, to paint and to general assembly, at Gigafactory Shanghai. We have cleared initial milestones toward our manufacturing license and are working towards finalizing the license and meeting other governmental requirements before we begin ramping production and delivery of vehicles from Shanghai,” Tesla stated.
TESLA SOLAR
Tesla’s Energy business also showed some growth in the third quarter. Long dormant and tempered compared to the company’s electric vehicle business, Tesla Energy has long been considered by skeptics as a neglected project. This has changed in the third quarter, with Tesla Solar installs moving up 48% compared to Q2 2019’s figures. These installations are further bolstered by new initiatives relating to the company’s energy business, such as the introduction of the Megapack, a massive 3 MW battery that could prove to be as disruptive as Tesla’s electric cars.
TESLA SEMI and GIGAFACTORY EUROPE
Tesla has been quite thin on updates surrounding the Tesla Semi, having focused more on Model 3. In its Q3 Update Letter, Tesla revealed that its all-electric long-hauler is poised to begin production in late 2020. An official announcement about the location of Gigafactory 4 in Europe is also expected to be released in 2021. “We are planning to produce limited volumes of Tesla Semi in 2020 and are hoping to announce soon the location of our European Gigafactory for production in 2021,” Tesla wrote.
As of writing, Tesla stock is up 21.03% at $ 308.25 per share in Thursday’s after-hours trading.
Following is Tesla’s Q3 2019 Update Letter.
Tesla Q3’19 Update Letter by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
Elon Musk
Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you
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.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
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.