A prototype of Tesla's Optimus robot. CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images Elon Musk built Tesla into the world's most valuable carmaker. Now he's betting the company's future on a robot that walks on two legs.
Musk predicts its robot, Optimus, could become "the biggest product ever," with legions of the humanoid robots working in factories, doing household chores, and eventually building more robots. He even has a name for them in the plural: "Optimi."
But Tesla has yet to prove the robot can navigate the physical world or perform useful work autonomously, much less that it can be manufactured by the millions.
On Tesla's earnings call this week, Musk offered few details about Optimus and tempered expectations for how quickly production would increase. He said Tesla would begin producing its third-generation robot "soon" in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Tesla is competing in an increasingly crowded humanoid market. Agility Robotics, which plans to go public, has deployed its Digit robot across nine customer facilities, while Figure AI has announced deployments in logistics and distribution centers this year. Sunday Robotics, 1X, and Weave Robotics are preparing to ship robots into homes this fall.
Guy Hoffman, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University who leads its human-robot collaboration lab, called humanoids a "fantasy product."
Autonomous cars took about 20 years to reach the market after the technology was first shown to work, he told Business Insider. Building humanoids is even harder, and a fully autonomous machine has yet to be developed.
"Humanoid robots are a very risky bet," Hoffman said. "I don't see the product having a viable future in the near term."
Tesla's first-generation Optimus production line in Fremont, California. Tesla Musk has never shied away from moonshot projects. But even he has acknowledged that Optimus is harder to develop than Tesla's Model X, Cybertruck, or gigafactories. If Tesla pulls it off, Musk believes Optimus could usher in "sustainable abundance," a future in which AI and robotics make human labor largely optional.
Tesla did not repond to a request for comment from Business Insider
Here's everything we know about Optimus so far:
From human to humanoidMusk introduced the "Tesla Bot" in 2021 with a person dancing in a robot costume.
Three years later, Optimus robots danced, served drinks, and spoke with guests at Tesla's "We, Robot" event. The robots walked on their own, but more complex movements, such as pouring drinks, handing out desserts, and interacting with attendees, were assisted by remote human operators.
Tesla hasn't yet revealed what the next version of Optimus will look like. All we know is that it stands nearly six feet tall and has a humanlike design, a form that one Silicon Valley investor dismissed to Business Insider as a "parlor trick". Musk has defended humanoids, arguing that robots must resemble people to perform the full range of human tasks.
Chinese companies, including Unitree and UBTech, accounted for about 90% of humanoid shipments last year, according to technology research firm Omdia. Musk has argued that Optimus will be much more sophisticated than its Chinese rivals, but has shared few details so far.
"Optimus is designed to have a lot of intelligence and to have the same electromechanical dexterity, if not higher, than a human," Musk said on a podcast earlier this year. "Unitree does not have that."
Where Optimus stands nowEven though Tesla has not publicly unveiled the next-generation Optimus, it released photos this week of the Fremont production line, where manufacturing is expected to begin soon. Musk previously said that Tesla was keeping the robot under wraps to prevent competitors from copying its design.
Tesla stopped producing the Model S and Model X in Fremont earlier this year to make room for an Optimus line designed to eventually produce a million robots a year. A second line under construction in Austin is planned to have an annual capacity of 10 million robots.
Tesla's first-generation Optimus production line in Fremont, California. Tesla The first bots will join Tesla's "Optimus Academy," where they will practice tasks and generate data used to improve the AI models that serve as their "brains." Musk has said that 10,000 to 30,000 robots will refine their real-world skills at the academy.
On the company's earnings call this week, AI chief Ashok Elluswamy said that the training could push the robots' capabilities to a "superhuman level."
Musk cautioned investors this week that production will ramp slowly because there is no established supply chain for many Optimus components.
Tesla has three big problems to solveTo make Optimus a reality, Musk says Tesla must solve three problems: intelligence, hands, and mass production.
First, the robot must learn to understand and move through the physical world. Musk believes Tesla's self-driving work gives it a head start because Optimus can use Tesla-designed AI chips and technology developed to help its cars interpret camera footage.
Tesla has adapted its driving simulator, a virtual environment used to train and test its self-driving technology, to train millions of virtual robots. But simulations cannot capture every real-world scenario, so Tesla also needs data from physical tasks. Tesla employees have recorded themselves performing factory jobs, for instance.
Hoffman, the Cornell professor, said Musk is underestimating how much harder humanoid robotics is than self-driving.
"It's like playing checkers versus doing nuclear physics," he said. Humanoids must balance on two legs without falling, he added, and today's AI models are still far from operating reliably in the physical world.
The second challenge is what Musk calls the "hands problem": replicating the human hand with motors, sensors, and software. A robot hand must combine strength, precision, and flexibility in a remarkably small space, making it exceptionally difficult to engineer.
Tesla has not unveiled the latest version of Optimus to prevent competitors from copying its design. Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images On Tesla's earnings call this week, Musk said Optimus is being designed to have "human and then superhuman dexterity." Achieving that has required Tesla to develop custom motors, gears, and sensors.
The final challenge is scaling up manufacturing. Musk has warned that early production will be "agonizingly slow." But once Tesla starts producing a million robots a year — the timeline for which is still unclear — he estimates each Optimus could cost about $20,000 to $25,000 to produce.
How Optimus fits into Musk's AI empireMusk has increasingly talked about a "convergence" across his business empire, which is becoming more intertwined around AI.
Ahead of and during Tesla's earnings call this week, shareholders and analysts pressed Musk about a rumored merger with SpaceX. Musk wouldn't comment on the speculation, but highlighted the company's synergies, including the Robotaxi and AI businesses.
Musk has previously explained how Optimus could work with SpaceX's technology, which acquired xAI in February. Each robot would have enough computing power to perform some tasks independently, while xAI's Grok could coordinate larger groups, he said.
"Let's say you wanted to build a factory," Musk said earlier this year. "Grok could organize the Optimus robots, assign them tasks to build the factory floor to produce whatever you want."
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Rya is a senior reporter at Business Insider covering physical AI and robotics. She writes about factory automation, humanoid robots, and the race to collect the real-world data needed to bring AI into the physical world. She previously worked at The San Francisco Standard, where she reported on tech culture and autonomous vehicles. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and politics from Pomona College and a master’s in history from the University of Cambridge. Rya lives in San Francisco. Contact her at [email protected] or on Signal at rjetha.07. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device. Here's our guide to sharing information securely.
While Elon Musk’s two mega-cap public companies have not been doing particularly well in general in the 2026 stock market, the previous week of trading proved especially damaging, and, combined, SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) wiped over $360 billion from their valuations.
Indeed, the rocket, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) company started out strong following its initial public offering (IPO) in early June but then entered a downtrend that took it as low as $110.85 before recovering slightly to $118.24.
One-week price chart for Elon Musk’s SpaceX stock. Source: Google Within the last five sessions, SPCX shares fell 6.98%, and the company’s market capitalization crashed $116.83 billion from $1.67 trillion to $1.56 trillion.
The situation has arguably been even worse for the electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla as its equity plummeted 16.18% within the same timeframe, meaning TSLA’s valuation plunged $243.61 billion from $1.5 trillion to $1.26 trillion.
One-week price chart for Elon Musk’s Tesla stock. Source: Google Why Tesla stock wiped $240 billion in a week To begin with, Elon Musk’s car company has been struggling since the year started, between dwindling vehicle deliveries and a shifting timeline for the autonomous ‘Cybercab’ and the humanoid ‘Optimus’ robot.
By Wednesday, July 22, the situation took another adverse turn as the firm’s quarterly earnings report disappointed investors, initiating a 14.52% daily crash to Tesla stock’s latest closing price of $319.69.
Specifically, though revenue came in higher than expected – at $28.24 billion instead of the expected $25.71 billion – and the firm’s core business grew relative to the same period in the previous year, compressed margins and an earnings per share (EPS) miss ensured the selloff.
EPS in particular demonstrates why TSLA shares plummeted, given that analysts were expecting $0.51 and the actual number came in at $0.33.
Why SpaceX stock wiped $116 billion in a week Elsewhere, SpaceX appears to be suffering from an overly ambitious initial valuation. Despite achieving less than $5 billion in revenue in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026 and suffering nearly a $2 billion loss, the company executed its IPO at a $1.77 trillion valuation and a $135 share price.
Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) – a technology company with a comparable market capitalization – recorded roughly four times greater sales than Elon Musk’s space and AI firm within the same timeframe.
Saudi Aramco, an oil giant of a similar size, was profitable, unlike SpaceX, along with achieving significantly higher revenue.
Indeed, as Finbold reported earlier in the week, SPCX’s recent performance appears to back a case presented by Morningstar shortly before the IPO that the equity is headed under $100 and toward an estimated fair value close to $70.
Notably, however, SpaceX stock recorded a green day during the latest session and, despite the deep retracement, retains the confidence of Wall Street.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA -14.38%) plunged on Thursday after the Elon Musk-led tech titan reported earnings that fell short of investors' expectations.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Heavy spending weighed on Tesla's profit margins Tesla's revenue rose 26% year over year to $28.2 billion in the second quarter. The gains were fueled by a 23% jump in automotive sales to $20.5 billion, a 13% rise in energy generation and storage revenue to $3.1 billion, and a 50% surge in services and other revenue to $4.6 billion.
But sales weren't the issue. Soaring costs and declining margins were.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker's operating margin fell to 1.4% from 4.1% in the prior-year quarter, driven by a 47% surge in operating expenses.
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All told, Tesla's adjusted net income declined 17% to $1.2 billion, or $0.33 per share. That was well below Wall Street's estimates, which had called for per-share profits of $0.54, according to Yahoo! Finance.
Worse still, Tesla's free cash flow turned negative as its capital expenditures outpaced its operating cash flow.
Project delays are getting tiresome Investors would likely have more patience if they were confident that this spending would produce strong returns. But as Musk ramps up Tesla's capital expenditures -- to more than $25 billion in 2026 alone -- he's failing to meet previously communicated timelines for key projects such as the company's Robotaxi service and Optimus robots.
Shareholders are growing increasingly frustrated. And many investors decided to sell their shares today.
Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Tesla (TSLA -14.38%) investors got both halves of the company's story in one report on Wednesday, and they pulled in opposite directions. Revenue rose 26% year over year to $28.2 billion, powered by record second-quarter deliveries of 480,126 vehicles. The company even crossed $100 billion in trailing-12-month revenue for the first time.
But operating income fell 57% year over year to $398 million, leaving an operating margin of just 1.4%. A year ago, that figure was 4.1%.
The market didn't take it well. Shares of the electric carmaker sank about 14% Thursday as of this writing.
So is the business deteriorating? I don't think that's quite what the numbers show. What they show is a company deliberately converting nearly all of its operating profit into capacity for AI (artificial intelligence) and robotics, at a pace the income statement can no longer hide.
Image source: Tesla.
Tesla's problem wasn't the economics of selling cars. Gross margin slipped only modestly, to 16.8% (versus 17.2% in the year-ago quarter).
The bigger swing came below that line. Operating expenses jumped 47% year over year to $4.4 billion, driven by AI and other research and development projects, stock-based compensation (including expenses tied to CEO Elon Musk's 2025 performance award), and higher selling, general, and administrative costs. The company also absorbed lower regulatory credit revenue, lower average selling prices, and an energy warranty charge tied to a vendor's battery cell issue. Add it up, and the biggest second quarter for deliveries in Tesla's history produced less operating income than any quarter in the past year.
Net income held up better, falling 5% year over year to $1.1 billion.
And then there's the cash. Capital expenditures more than doubled from a year ago to $5.8 billion (a step-up of $3.3 billion from the first quarter alone). That pushed free cash flow to negative $1.1 billion, compared with a positive $146 million in the year-ago period, and Tesla's cash and investments dipped $1.2 billion during the quarter to $43.5 billion.
Of course, the balance sheet can absorb spending like this for now. But the direction has changed. Tesla used to fund its ambitions from profits, and it is now funding them from the vault.
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What the money is buying Tesla's quarterly update lists the projects. Cybercab, the company's purpose-built autonomous vehicle, began production at Gigafactory Texas during the quarter. Tesla decommissioned its Model S and X lines at the Fremont Factory to install the first production lines for Optimus, its humanoid robot. And the company more than doubled its AI training compute in Texas during the first half of 2026, continued work on a semiconductor fab in Austin, and kept ramping battery cell production and lithium refining.
Even more, the spending is set to accelerate. Chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja has told investors to expect capital expenditures above $25 billion this year -- guidance he laid out back in April -- and he said on Wednesday's call that operating expenses will keep growing in 2026 and beyond.
To the company's credit, some of the payoff is already measurable. Robotaxi service is now live in seven U.S. metros, with unsupervised rides launched in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa in July. Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscriptions climbed 56% year over year to 1.48 million. More than 55% of new North American deliveries included FSD subscriptions, a record attach rate. And services and other revenue grew 50% year over year, with a record $648 million of gross profit at a 14% margin.
But those returns are still small next to the bill.
Which brings up the stock. Even after Thursday's drop, Tesla commands a market capitalization of about $1.2 trillion, and shares trade at more than 300 times earnings. A valuation like that assumes the robotaxi and Optimus bets eventually produce enormous profits -- and the 1.4% operating margin means shareholders are funding those bets almost entirely out of what used to be the company's earnings.
If the build-out works, this stretch will likely look like the price of admission. If it doesn't, investors will have paid a premium valuation for a company that spent its margin.
Personally, I'll keep watching from the sidelines. What could change my mind is the operating margin turning back up while the spending continues -- evidence the core business can carry the build-out instead of being consumed by it.
Slipping 2.15% to 25,138, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.15%) dropped sharply today, driven by a broad retreat in technology stocks following earnings reports. The S&P 500 (^GSPC -1.21%) lost 1.21% to 7,408 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.97%) fell 0.97% to 51,712.
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Gold prices fell 2.36% to $4,048.76 as of U.S. market close, and the 10-Year Treasury yield rose 0.04% to 4.67%, a 52-week high. Communication services and consumer cyclicals were the biggest losers today, while industrials and healthcare stocks showed strength.
Today's biggest movesAlphabet fell by 7%, and Tesla shares tumbled almost 15% following yesterday’s earnings. In contrast, Intel rose in after-hours trading following its Q2 results, which beat expectations. EquipmentShare.com rose 8%, extending gains after increasing its revenue guidance earlier this month.
What this means for investorsThe risk that the huge outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure might not pay off pressured technology stocks today. Rising oil prices and high Treasury yields compounded the risk-off mood. WTI crude oil gained 5.8% to $91.84 a barrel on reports that Houthi militia had attacked tankers in the Red Sea, threatening an alternative supply route to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely closed.
Mounting concern over heavy AI capital expenditures hit both Alphabet and Tesla shares. Increased spending from both firms — without a clear indication of when investors will see returns — weighed on shares. Investors are shifting their stances on AI spending sprees, which could justify a more cautious stance on big tech firms.
Emma Newbery has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Intel, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in TSLA over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
SummaryTesla, Inc. and CEO Elon Musk appear to be deprioritizing the robotaxi initiative.Momentum in TSLA's robotaxi business has stalled, raising doubts about near-term commercialization.This shift may impact TSLA's growth narrative and valuation tied to autonomous driving.Investors should reassess expectations for robotaxi-driven upside in TSLA's investment thesis. Naypong/iStock via Getty Images
Elon Musk and Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) seem to be losing interest in its robotaxi business, as it appears to have stalled.
Ignoring His Previous Promises So much has changed in a year. A year ago, Elon Musk
4.64K Followers
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial short position in the shares of TSLA either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Tesla (TSLA -14.38%) stock sank nearly 15% in value this week after reporting quarterly earnings. Clearly, the market disliked what it heard from the company’s management team, including CEO Elon Musk. But there was some good news tucked into the data-packed announcement.
On the positive front, Tesla’s sales rose 26% year-over-year to $28.24 billion, beating most Wall Street estimates. Gross margins, however, slid from 19.2% in the first quarter to 16.3%, reflecting weaker pricing power and various one-time charges. Weaker margins hurt the company’s adjusted earnings per share, which came in at $0.33, below consensus estimates of roughly $0.50.
Most importantly, Tesla revealed surging capital expenditures, which shot higher 142% year-over-year to $5.8 billion. The company confirmed that capital expenditures for the year will exceed $25 billion to support its ongoing efforts to scale for AI compute, robotics, and chip manufacturing infrastructure. Surging capital expenditures weighed on free cash flow, which came in at negative $1.09 billion for the quarter.
Why did the market punish Tesla stock so harshly following earnings? The biggest concern deals with the pace and scale of its robotaxi division’s expansion.
Last year, Elon Musk told investors that its robotaxi service would expand at a "hyper-exponential rate". This quarter, however, Musk took a more cautious approach, warning of a slower-than-expected rollout. Analysts pushed back on the tone shift, with one pressing Musk on why the company’s robotaxi fleet was stuck “in the dozens as opposed to hundreds,” as previous guidance had predicted.
The market is clearly concerned about Tesla’s rising capital expenditures amid limited traction in growth markets like robotaxis. In other words, the market wants to see more from the company in exchange for higher spending.
Does Tesla’s robotaxi struggles portend trouble ahead for other EV stocks like Rivian (RIVN -4.04%) and Lucid Group (LCID -4.87%), both of which are expected to benefit from growth in the global robotaxi market? The short answer is yes, but the full answer is more complicated.
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Here’s how the news from Tesla impacts Rivian and Lucid GroupRobotaxis are set to become a major global market. Some experts believe that robotaxis could ultimately become a $5 trillion to $10 trillion market. Tesla is primed to take a huge chunk of this market. Its business is largely vertically integrated, with an ability to both manufacture the physical vehicles and create the software necessary for operating a robotaxi fleet at scale.
Rivian and Lucid have slightly different exposures. For now, these two businesses are positioned as supplier to the robotaxi market rather than direct competitors.
Popular ridesharing service Uber Technologies (UBER -2.02%), for example, is investing aggressively to scale its robotaxi fleet. But Uber doesn’t have any internal manufacturing capabilities. So, it must purchase vehicles from other companies.
Image source: Getty Images
Earlier this year, Uber agreed to purchase up to 50,000 Rivian R2 SUVs in a $1.25 billion deal. Uber also forged a $500 million deal with Lucid for 35,000 vehicles.
Tesla won’t be buying robotaxi vehicles directly from Rivian or Lucid given it can produce its own vehicles. But Tesla’s inability to scale it robotaxi fleet is an indicator that the robotaxi industry in general may be experiencing scaling issues. And while Rivian and Lucid have growth catalysts besides selling robotaxis, their respective deals with Uber show how lucrative that end market can be for both companies long term.
In short, investors should pump the brakes on expectations for Lucid and Rivian’s robotaxi growth potential. Robotaxis will still be a lucrative market long term. But judging by Tesla’s struggles, the next year or two may be more difficult for Rivian and Lucid when it comes to benefiting from robotaxi operators need for more fleet vehicles.
4:15pm: Nasdaq closes deep in the red US stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq leading the losses as investors dumped technology shares after earnings from Tesla and Alphabet failed to ease concerns about rising spending.
The Nasdaq fell 2.2% to 25,138, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.2% to 7,408. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 507 points, or 1%, to close at 51,712.
Despite reporting strong revenue growth, Tesla and Alphabet came under heavy selling pressure after both companies warned that capital expenditures are set to climb, raising fresh questions about profitability and free cash flow. The disappointing market reaction weighed on the broader technology and communications sectors, dragging the Nasdaq to its steepest decline in weeks.
Adding to the pressure, oil prices surged toward the $100-a-barrel mark as escalating conflict in the Middle East fueled fears of supply disruptions. The jump in crude prices reignited inflation concerns, pushing Treasury yields to their highest levels of the year and further denting appetite for growth stocks.
Investors are increasingly worried that higher energy prices could complicate the Federal Reserve's path on interest rates, particularly if inflation proves more persistent than expected.
Attention now turns to Intel, which is set to report quarterly earnings after the closing bell, with investors looking for further clues on the health of the semiconductor industry after a bruising session for the broader tech sector.
3:40pm: Proactive news headlines Custom Health Holdings Inc (TSX:CHLT) initiated Buy-rated coverage from Stifel with a C$12 price target, with analysts highlighting significant upside driven by the company's medication management platform. 374Water Inc (NASDAQ:SCWO, FRA:8LL) said a US Army Corps of Engineers report independently validated its AirSCWO technology, demonstrating 99.9993% destruction and removal efficiency for PFAS during testing. Royalty Management Holding Corp (NASDAQ:RMCO) said its royalty partner ReElement Technologies secured new financing to expand operations, a move expected to increase royalty revenue under their existing agreement. Replenish Nutrients Holding Corp (CSE:ERTH, OTC:VVIVF, FRA:7KE) closed the $7.5 million equity portion of a previously announced $15 million strategic investment from SRC Agrominerals Sales, with the convertible debenture portion expected to close in August 2026. 2:30pm: Market movers Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares fell despite record vehicle sales and stronger-than-expected revenue as investors focused on weaker profitability and future growth concerns. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares dropped despite beating earnings and revenue forecasts as investors weighed concerns around valuation and expectations following the results. American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL, XETRA:A1G) shares fell despite beating second-quarter earnings expectations as the carrier warned that higher fuel costs could pressure third-quarter results. T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS, XETRA:TM5) reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings but saw shares decline after revenue narrowly missed Wall Street estimates. 374Water Inc (NASDAQ:SCWO, FRA:8LL) said a US Army Corps of Engineers report independently validated its AirSCWO technology, showing 99.9993% destruction and removal efficiency for PFAS during a demonstration. RTX Corp (NYSE:RTX, XETRA:5UR) shares climbed after the aerospace and defense company delivered better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year 2026 outlook. Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) shares declined after stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings were offset by a weaker-than-expected third-quarter outlook. International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) shares slipped after second-quarter revenue and earnings missed expectations and the company lowered its full-year revenue growth forecast. Replenish Nutrients Holding Corp (CSE:ERTH, OTC:VVIVF, FRA:7KE) closed a $7.5 million equity investment from SRC. 12:50pm: Oil prices surge after Houthi attacks Oil prices surged above US$100 a barrel on Thursday after Houthi rebels claimed attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, raising fresh concerns over global energy supplies and rattling financial markets.
“Two of the world’s busiest shipping corridors are under threat in the same month, and markets are only just beginning to work out what that means," said Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group.
"The timing is awkward for the Federal Reserve, which meets on July 29. Inflation had climbed for three straight months to 4.2% in May, its highest level in years, before cooling to 3.5% in June largely because gasoline prices fell nearly 10% during the brief ceasefire between the US and Iran.
"With that ceasefire now collapsed and oil back above $100, the drop which gave the Fed room to relax may already be reversing."
11:45am: Alphabet's spending rattles investors Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares fell more than 6% after investors looked past better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and focused on the company’s soaring AI spending.
The Google parent reported revenue of $119.8 billion and earnings per share of $9.11, beating Wall Street forecasts, while Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% year over year.
However, quarterly capital expenditure doubled to $44.9 billion, keeping Alphabet on pace for up to $190 billion in spending this year, while free cash flow dropped sharply. Investor sentiment was also weighed down by reports that Google delayed its Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model, although the company has disputed those claims.
11:00am: Tesla sinks on spending, profit Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were down about 14% after the electric vehicle maker reported second-quarter results that topped revenue expectations but missed on profit.
Revenue rose 26% year over year to $28.24 billion, while deliveries reached a record 480,126 vehicles, marking the first annual growth in two years. Services revenue climbed 50% and Full Self-Driving subscriptions increased 56%, with the company also reporting its largest order backlog since 2023.
However, adjusted earnings of $0.33 per share missed forecasts, while gross and operating margins weakened as lower vehicle prices, declining regulatory credit sales and rising costs weighed on profitability.
Heavy capital spending also pushed free cash flow into a deficit.
10am: Nasdaq leads losses as Tesla and Alphabet slide US stocks have extended yesterday's losses in early deals, with Tesla dropping over 10% to lead the Nasdaq down 1.8%.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones are both off more than 0.9%.
Alphabet fell 6.6%, with other Mag 7 names dropping too, including Amazon and Meta both slipping more than 3%.
Biggest faller on the S&P is pest controller Rollins, down 12% after reporting weaker second-quarter revenue growth than expected.
Semis are also being sold again, with Microchip Technology, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments among the Nasdaq's biggest fallers.
Top of the S&P leaderboard is United Rentals after saying it will increase its spending on its fleet this year and raising full-year guidance.
9.20am: Record low US jobless claims US initial jobless claims have fallen to their lowest level since 1969.
New unemployment claims fall to 187K, down from 209K, while the market forecast was for a small rise to 210K.
"While seasonal factors may be impacting the headline number at the margins, the extremely low level of claims highlights a low layoff rate and the strength underlying the labor market," says Matthew Martin at Oxford Economics.
"In the wake of moderating jobless claims, continued claims fell a touch further in the week ended July 11, with the four-week moving average creeping lower.
"The decent pace of nonfarm payroll gains amid weak labor-supply conditions should translate into lower continued claims in the weeks ahead."
8.30am: Iran war has entered a more dangerous phase, RBC warns The Iran conflict has entered a "decidedly more dangerous phase", with Red Sea oil flows and critical infrastructure increasingly at risk, according to RBC Capital Markets.
Brent crude has topped $99.30 in recent minutes, but commodity strategist Helima Croft says these prices are a "lagging indicator of the extreme pressure building in the region".
Croft warns that the reported targeting of two Saudi tankers by Yemen's Houthis could cause a "material reduction" in Red Sea oil shipments and undermine the belief that "the market always finds a workaround".
Prices could surpass the 2022 peak of $128 a barrel or even reach the 2008 high of $146 in a full regional war, Croft warns.
She says alternative routes for tankers would significantly increase costs and extend journeys to Asia by around four weeks to roughly 54 days.
Iran's attacks on Kuwaiti desalination facilities are described as "especially concerning", with Kuwait relying on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.
Some Gulf cities could reportedly have only seven days of clean water if plants were disabled.
7.45am: Nasdaq and Dow set to extend losses Wall Street is set for a moderately lower open on Thursday after mixed results from Alphabet and Tesla, while a fresh surge in oil prices revived concerns about inflation and interest rates.
Futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all down around 0.3%.
This would see losses extended from the day before, when the Nasdaq dropped 0.6% to 25,691, the S&P fell 0.1% to 7,499, and the Dow finished essentially flat, down six points at 52,219.
After the closing bell, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) beat revenue and earnings forecasts, with cloud revenue surging 82%, but its shares fell in after-hours trading after the Google owner raised its planned capital expenditure to as much as $205 billion this year. Shares were down 4.1% in pre-market trading.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares declined 6.2% after reporting its first quarter of negative free cash flow in more than two years as operating costs surged.
European markets were also lower, led by a 1.7% decline in Milan as semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) fell sharply after weaker second-quarter earnings and soft third-quarter guidance disappointed investors following a three-month rally.
In commodities, WTI crude has jumped 4.1% on Thursday morning to above $90.65 a barrel, its highest level in six weeks, as US Central Command confirmed another round of strikes against Iran.
"Strikes between the US and Iran show no sign of easing, and the Houthis said they targeted two oil tankers in the Red Sea yesterday, raising fears that the conflict is widening," said Henry Allen at Deutsche Bank.
This has raised fresh supply fears as Saudi Arabia has redirected oil exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, prompting "fresh concerns about a more prolonged stagflationary shock", with investors pricing in higher inflation and a more hawkish path for central banks.
Fed futures now indicate a 36% chance of an interest-rate increase next week. The European Central Bank is expected to leave rates unchanged when it announces its latest decision later today.
Before the bell, earnings are due from defence groups RTX and Lockheed Martin, telecoms names T-Mobile and Nokia, and other heavyweights including Thermo Fisher, TotalEnergies, Blackstone, Freeport-McMoRan, Comcast and Honeywell.
After the close, attention turns to Intel and SAP, along with gold miner Newmont.
The downtrend may continue. This is why Tesla is the Stock of the Day.
• How is TSLA stock doing now?
Markets are driven by supply and demand. When there are more shares for sale than buyers willing to purchase them, sellers are often forced to undercut one another by lowering their asking prices to attract buyers.
This forces the shares into a downtrend.
When a stock reaches a support level, the dynamic changes. There are large amounts of shares to be purchased. Downtrends end or pause when they reach support levels.
People who wish to sell can do so without forcing the price lower.
If a stock trades and stays below a support level, traders say the support has been broken. This can be a bearish dynamic.
It shows the investors and traders who created the support with their buy orders are gone. They have either finished or canceled their orders.
With these buyers out of the market, sellers will be forced again to undercut each other and offer their shares at discounts. This can create a new downtrend.
As you can see on the chart, the $372 level was support for Tesla in May and June. This support broke yesterday, and a large move lower followed this morning.
There was support around the $343 level. Today’s move broke this support, and the shares continue to trend lower.
If they keep dropping, there is a chance there is support around the $286 level. This level was support last July, and there tends to be support at levels that were support previously.
This happens because of remorseful or regretful sellers. Some of the people who sold at the support have regretted doing so ever since. A number of them vowed to buy their shares back at their selling price if they eventually could.
This means there could be support at this level. It could be where the selloff ends.
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
U.S. regulators will begin developing new requirements for automakers to ensure drivers and passengers can safely exit their vehicles. The new rule-making process, outlined in a regulatory filing and first reported by Bloomberg, follows a series of incidents, including fatal ones, in which people have become stuck inside cars with flush, electronically operated door handles like those found on Tesla vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the new rule-making in response to a petition that asked the agency to open a safety defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door release design on 2022 Tesla Model 3 vehicles. The petition argued that door release doesn’t comply with federal motor vehicle standards.
NHTSA denied taking the action that the petitioners wanted, saying that the issue would be best addressed through rulemaking rather than a defect investigation.
If the agency adopts new rules, all automakers will need to follow them. However, it’s important to note that “commencing” rulemaking doesn’t mean new ones will be developed, according to NHTSA.
The decision comes less than a year after NHTSA opened an investigation into Tesla’s door handles after receiving nine reports from owners who were unable to get into their cars, sometimes with children still inside. The probe followed Bloomberg’s own investigation into a series of incidents in which Tesla drivers and passengers became trapped inside their vehicles following a crash.
While Tesla vehicles do have manual door releases, they are located only inside the car. In an initial review by NHTSA, investigators found the handles may not work if the electronic door locks don’t receive enough voltage from the vehicle’s battery system.
Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen said last year that the company was working on a redesign of its door handles. Rivian said last year it was changing the interior door handle design on its R2 SUV to put the manual release in a more visible location, closer to the electrically powered door handles.
Topics
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.
Tesla (TSLA -14.38%), the global electric-vehicle, battery storage, and autonomous driving platform, closed at $319.69, down 14.52%. Thursday's drop followed an earnings miss and heavier AI and robotics spending. Investors will continue watching margins with another focus on autonomous-driving guidance next.
Trading volume reached 114.2 million shares, coming in about 131% above its three-month average of 49.4 million shares.
Tesla IPO'd in 2010 and has grown 20,006% since going public.
How the markets moved todayThe S&P 500 (^GSPC -1.21%) fell 1.21% to 7,408.30, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.15%) dropped 2.15% to 25,138. Among electric vehicle manufacturing peers, Rivian Automotive (RIVN -4.04%) closed at $16.46, down 4.19%, and Lucid Group (LCID -5.01%) closed at $6.45, down 4.87%, reflecting pressure across EV names.
What this means for investorsTesla’s revenue soared in Q2, driven by a surge in EV unit volume. Deliveries jumped 25% year over year, and revenue gains came close to matching that. Yet profits dropped, and free cash flow turned negative as operating expenses and capital spending soared.
Analysts lowered their price targets for Tesla following the earnings miss, citing margin pressure and cautious guidance on autonomous driving.
The future direction of Tesla stock will depend on what investors prioritize. Competition in the EV market has put pricing pressure on Tesla, which it is offsetting with volume. But that additional revenue isn’t reaching the bottom line because of the company’s growth investments and expenses.
Those investments may pay off handsomely in the future, but investors may be waiting for proof before giving Tesla the benefit of the doubt.
Howard Smith has positions in Lucid Group, Rivian Automotive, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Index Dow Jones -0,97 % na 51711,65 b. S&P 500 -1,21 % na 7408,3 b. Nasdaq Composite -2,15 % na 25137,69 b.
Obchodní den končí v USA v červeném. Široký index S&P 500 odepisuje 1,2 % pod tlakem poklesů v sektoru komunikačních služeb a zbytné spotřeby. V komunikační službách se negativní sentiment propsal do akcií Alphabet, které po kvartálních výsledcích odepisují 6,89 %. Rudá barva se prolila i do telekomunikačních služeb, kde reportoval T-Mobile US (- 10,75 %). Ten se chce v následujícím kvartálu zaměřit na vyšší výnosy z každého zákazníka a méně řešit přírůstky nových klientů. Vedení očekává slabší přírůstky a společnost se snaží převádět zákazníky na dražší tarify, což by mohlo vést k dočasnému úbytku zákazníků. Za minulý kvartál firma meziročně zvýšila čistý zisk o 5 % a díky silnému cash flow byl zvýšen celoroční výhled na USD 18,4 -18,8 mld. Zveřejněný zisk na akcii USD 2,99 překonal odhady trhu.
Nedařilo se ani aerolinkám. American Airlines Group (- 8,35 %) klesá kvůli slabšímu výhledu. Společnosti v uplynulém kvartálu významně rostla cena leteckého paliva. I když se zvýšené náklady povedlo částečně přesunout na zákazníka, tak trh negativně reaguje na zvýšený tlak na marže do budoucna. Management očekává v dalším kvartálu ztrátu až do výše USD 0,1 na akcii. V reportu za minulý kvartál dosáhl zisk na akcii na USD 0,15.
Kladně končí sektor průmyslu. GE Vernova posílila o 4,69 % a o 10,54 % posílil Lockheed Martin.
Z indexu Dow Jones posílila třetina titulů na čele s Honeywell Technologies (5,7 %).
Komoditní trhy se soustředí na černé zlato. Futures na ropu Brent se nyní obchodují těsně pod hranicí USD 100 a WTI při růstu o 5,3 % překonává cenovku USD 91,5.
Index S&P 500 -1,21 % na 7408,3 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Průmysl +1,8 % Komunikační služby -5,2 % Zdravotní péče +1,3 % Zbytná spotřeba -5,1 % Energie +0,6 % Nezbytná spotřeba -1,1 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) +11 % Tesla (TSLA) -15 % Allegion (ALLE) +10 % T-Mobile US (TMUS) -11 % United Rentals (URI) +10 % Rollins (ROL) -9,3 % Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) +8,7 % Dover Corp (DOV) -7,8 % Quest Diagnostics (DGX) +8,6 % Alphabet (GOOGL) -7,1 %
Marek Kameništiak
Fio banka, a.s.
Prohlášení
Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet GOOGL shares led a broad market selloff on Thursday after investors reacted to higher artificial intelligence spending, sending the Nasdaq Composite down about 2.5% and the S&P 500 lower about 1.5%, while rising Middle East tensions pushed Brent crude close to $100 a barrel.
Tesla fell about 12% after reporting quarterly earnings that missed profit expectations despite stronger revenue, while Alphabet dropped roughly 7% after lifting its 2026 capital expenditure outlook to as much as $205 billion. The decline weighed on major indexes, with other large-cap technology stocks also trading lower.
Alphabet said it plans to increase spending on AI infrastructure as demand for computing capacity continues to grow. Separately, the company also faced a roughly $1 billion European Union fine tied to its search business, adding to investor concerns.
Oil prices extended recent gains after reports that Iran-backed Houthi forces attacked two Saudi oil tankers. Brent crude climbed more than 6% to nearly $100 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose about 5%.
Higher energy prices also lifted Treasury yields as investors reassessed inflation and interest-rate expectations. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to its highest level since January 2025, while traders increased expectations for potential Federal Reserve rate hikes over the coming months.
Key Takeaways Tesla did not confirm a SpaceX merger, but Musk said overlap between the companies is increasing.Tesla and SpaceX are collaborating on Terafab, Digital Optimus, AI chips and robotics.Starlink is set for Cybercab and other Tesla vehicles where available to support reliable connectivity. There has been much speculation on whether Elon Musk would eventually combine Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and SpaceX (SPCX - Free Report) . The two companies share a founder, operate at the cutting edge of technology and have worked together across artificial intelligence, robotics and manufacturing.
On Tesla's second-quarter 2026 earnings call, when Musk was asked about a Tesla-SpaceX merger and whether it made strategic sense, he didn't dismiss the idea. Instead, he acknowledged that the two companies are becoming more closely intertwined.
Quoting him, “As you can tell from the many collaborations on so many fronts with SpaceX, there's more and more overlap.” He added that discussions about combining companies could not take place on an earnings call and would need to follow the "appropriate process."
While the response stopped well short of confirming any merger plans, it also didn't rule out the possibility. Musk, in fact, chose to emphasize the growing operational relationship between the two companies.
The Growing Overlap Between Tesla & SpaceXTesla and SpaceX are no longer simply two companies run by the same CEO. Their relationship has evolved into a strategic partnership spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing, robotics and connectivity.
Earlier this year, Tesla deepened its ties with SpaceX through an investment and a framework agreement, allowing the companies to expand collaboration on projects such as Terafab and Digital Optimus. The closer relationship was also reflected in Tesla's second-quarter results, where the company recorded a $1 billion mark-to-market gain on its SpaceX investment.
Developed jointly by Tesla and SpaceX, Terafab is a large-scale semiconductor manufacturing project that Musk described as critical to Tesla's future. The facility will help produce the AI chips needed to scale Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot. Without sufficient chip supply, the company's long-term robotics ambitions could face constraints.
The companies are also working together on Digital Optimus. SpaceX's larger AI model helps assign tasks to the robot, highlighting how the two companies are increasingly sharing expertise in AI and computing rather than operating as completely separate technology businesses.
The collaboration extends beyond AI and robotics. Musk revealed that SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service will be integrated into Tesla's Cybercab and eventually into all Tesla vehicles in markets where Starlink is available. He said reliable connectivity is essential for autonomous ride-hailing because cellular networks still have coverage gaps, even in densely populated regions such as Silicon Valley. Starlink would also ensure robotaxis remain connected while also supporting high-bandwidth services such as video streaming and other in-car entertainment.
Why Investors Keep Asking the QuestionThe growing collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX explains why merger speculation continues. The two companies are becoming increasingly intertwined across technologies that are central to their long-term strategies.
The similarities also extend beyond collaboration. Much of both companies' valuations today is driven not by their traditional businesses—selling electric vehicles in Tesla's case or launching rockets in SpaceX's—but by investor expectations around artificial intelligence and future technologies. Tesla is betting on autonomy, robotics and AI-driven manufacturing, while SpaceX is expanding beyond space transportation into satellite communications and AI-enabled infrastructure. As those ambitions converge, it's easy to see why investors continue to debate whether the partnership could eventually evolve into something bigger.
Musk also has a history of bringing companies within his broader ecosystem together through acquisitions and strategic restructurings— from Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 to xAI's purchase of X and, more recently, SpaceX's acquisition of xAI.
The Bottom LineTesla's latest earnings call didn't confirm that a merger with SpaceX is in the works. But it did provide the clearest indication yet that the relationship between the two companies is becoming deeper and more strategic. Rather than focusing solely on merger speculation, investors should keep a close watch on how quickly Terafab ramps, whether Starlink integration expands beyond Cybercab, and if Tesla deepens its financial ties with SpaceX.
Tesla and SpaceX carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The silhouette of Elon Musk and Tesla logo are seen in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesFrance cited safety concerns over Tesla FSD in its current formThe Netherlands provisionally approved FSD on Dutch roadsBelgium, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania followed suit ahead of a possible EU vote this fallAMSTERDAM, July 23 (Reuters) - France opposes the use of Tesla's (TSLA.O), opens new tab Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software in its current form on roads in the European Union due to safety concerns, its transportation minister said.
The French stance on the FSD software is the first public rejection by an EU government of a Dutch-led initiative to approve the technology for use throughout Europe.
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In a video statement released on Wednesday, Philippe Tabarot pointed to worries over speeding and driver inattention.
"In France, we believe that, while this system brings a number of technological advances, the safety tradeoffs are not yet sufficient to justify authorisation in its current form," he said.
Tabarot added that other European countries shared France's concerns regarding the software, though he did not name them.
Reuters reported in June that Sweden may also oppose approval.
Tesla's FSD is a driver assistance system that can accelerate, brake, and steer a car, while its human driver remains ready to intervene.
The Netherlands' road authority RDW approved the technology for use on Dutch roads on a provisional basis in April, prompting Belgium, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania to do the same in advance of a possible bloc-wide vote on the plan this fall.
The RDW could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
FSD software is seen as a selling point and revenue-generator for Tesla, whose European registrations are gradually recovering following a slump last year.
Responding to Tabarot's remarks in a statement on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote that "delaying the approval of FSD in France will cost lives".
Tabarot said France is continuing technical discussions with the Netherlands and other EU countries over the technology.
Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Joe Bavier
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Tesla delivered strong Q2 vehicle growth and increased FSD subscriptions, but profitability suffered from lower average selling prices and higher expenses. TSLA's optionality in FSD, Cybercab, Semi, and Optimus offers compelling long-term growth potential, yet these ventures remain highly capital-intensive and uncertain in timing and scale. Despite robust prospects, TSLA's current valuation—200x earnings and 90x forward EBITDA—remains excessive relative to achievable near-term fundamentals and optionality realization.
Shares in the YieldMax TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF (TSLY -13.43%) declined by 14.2% at 11:30 am today. The decline correlated with the fall in Tesla (TSLA -13.97%) shares following the release of its second-quarter earnings report. Here's the lowdown.
Why YieldMax Tesla Option Income Strategy ETF declined As the name suggests, the ETF uses option strategies to deliver returns to investors based on the performance of Tesla's stock. It gains long exposure to the stock by buying call options and selling put options – both positions reward bullishness. At the same time, the ETF's managers also sell call options, which "generally have a strike price that is approximately 0%-15% above the then-current share price of the Underlying Security." This is a bearish strategy that rewards the ETF as long as the price of the stock doesn't rise significantly.
NYSEMKT: TSLYTidal Trust II - YieldMax Tsla Option Income Strategy ETF
Today's Change
(
-13.43
%) $
-3.38
Current Price
$
21.77
The combination of strategies gives the ETF significant income generation in long periods of relatively low volatility for Tesla stock, particularly when Tesla stock is gently rising, but can underperform Tesla stock in sharply rising periods due to selling call options.
It does not do well when the stock falls sharply, and that's what happened today.
It would be remiss to discuss the ETF without mentioning why Tesla stock fell today. Simply put, Tesla's gross and profit margins came in lower than expected due to rising costs (both for goods sold and operating expenses). More importantly, CEO Elon Musk's commentary on the robotaxi rollout made it abundantly clear that it will be a measured, safety-first rollout that is unlikely to scale massively until the latest version of full self-driving (FSD) software, v15, is validated and released.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
That dose of reality is likely causing previously overly optimistic investors to sell the stock. That's the bad news, but the good news is it might reset expectations for the rollout and ultimately allow long-term bulls to buy stock cheaper.
Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Optimus moved into production this quarter at Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory, where the humanoid robot learns from what it sees instead of code written to instruct it.
“You’ve probably seen lots of impressive demonstrations of robots on the internet,” CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday (July 22) on the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “Those demonstrations are pre-programmed or remote controlled. There is no humanoid robot that is actually able to do generalized tasks. Optimus will be the first one that is capable of doing that.”
That scalability is the point. Programming a robot for every possible task isn’t feasible, but learning by observation is virtually limitless: factory floor footage runs continuously, and video of humans performing everyday tasks already exists at internet scale. Like a new employee, Optimus practices, fails, learns and improves, the company says.
“Just like Full Self-Driving, Tesla’s driver-assistance software, we have access to a broad fleet of humans giving us data from all of the workers at our factory,” said Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI. “Optimus can learn quite a bit from observing them perform their tasks.”
Optimus Has No Existing Supply Chain, So Tesla Is Building One Getting Optimus built at scale is a separate challenge. Cars draw on decades of existing suppliers for parts like glass and body panels; Optimus has no such precedent. Every part is new and every supplier had to be found from scratch or brought in-house.
“The difficulty of scaling the production ramp is proportionate to the newness of the parts in the robot,” Musk said. “With Optimus, there is no supply chain.”
Karen Cattan, Tesla’s VP of supply chain, said the company builds components itself when outside partners fall short. “In certain cases where we don’t find a great partner, we’ve never hesitated from insourcing it,” she said. Tesla is also lining up outside suppliers for chips and batteries. Samsung is building a manufacturing facility in Texas. Micron, one of the world’s largest memory chip makers, has given Tesla an allocation at a time when supply is tight. Panasonic has invested in battery cell production to support the ramp.
Tesla has also placed equipment orders for a chip development facility in Austin that puts design, testing and production under one roof, compressing a process that typically takes months into weeks. No such facility exists anywhere else on earth, Musk said. “It’s going to be the hardest product to scale manufacturing that we’ve ever made at Tesla,” he said.
Robotaxi Fleet Has Driven 380,000 Miles Without a Notable Incident While Optimus is a longer-term bet, Tesla’s robotaxi program, fully driverless vehicles that pick up and drop off passengers with no one behind the wheel, is proving the same technology in the real world.
Tesla has logged more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised robotaxi driving across seven U.S. markets with zero notable incidents, Elluswamy said. The fleet is growing at double-digit rates week over week and Tesla expects that pace to hold through year end.
The program started roughly a year ago in Austin with safety monitors in the car. By late last year it was running with no one on board, and it has since expanded across Florida, Texas and the Bay Area. “Robotaxi growth so far has been literally exponential while keeping an impeccable safety record,” Elluswamy said.
Both robotaxis and Optimus run on the same principle: a machine that learns from what it sees, improves through repetition and eventually outperforms a system following a fixed script. Robotaxis are proving the model works. Optimus is the next test of it.
What Else Stood Out Full Self-Driving, Tesla’s software that handles steering, acceleration and braking without human input, now has nearly 1.5 million paying customers globally. In North America, 55% of Q2 North American deliveries had FSD enabled at purchase. Tesla is adding Starlink satellite connectivity to the Cybercabs. Tesla ended Q2 with its biggest order backlog since 2023. Model Y set sales records in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said. The Tesla Semi, the company’s electric freight truck, will get autonomous driving capability by end of this year or early next. Optimus will eventually have superhuman dexterity, finer motor control than a human hand, Musk said. The human hand is more remarkable the closer you study it, he added, and Optimus is designed to match and then exceed it. Second-Quarter Results and Future Outlook Tesla reported record second-quarter deliveries with sequential growth of 60% in the Americas, 27% in Asia Pacific and 12% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Automotive gross margins, excluding regulatory credits, fell from 19.2% to 16.3%, driven by the non-recurrence of a $230 million warranty benefit and tariff relief from Q1. Adjusted for those items, margins were approximately flat.
Service margins, which include used cars, Supercharging, service centers and insurance, hit an all-time high of 14.1%, up from 9.2%. Free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditure more than doubled from the previous quarter, and Tesla now expects full-year capital expenditure above $25 billion.
ToplineElon Musk’s fortune was cut by more than $18 billion on Thursday amid the worst intraday selloff in Tesla shares in more than a year, following the automaker’s earnings report that disappointed Wall Street, as analysts called for Musk’s firm to bring “tangible” results for its robotics and robotaxi businesses.
The automaker reported earnings that disappointed Wall Street, with plans to spend billions more on AI.
Getty Images
Key FactsShares of Tesla plunged 14.1% as of Thursday afternoon, pacing what would be the largest single-day decline for the stock since June 5, 2025 (14.2%).
That drop in Tesla’s share price lowered Musk’s net worth by $18.6 billion to $731.7 billion, even as he remains the world’s richest person ahead of Google co-founder Larry Page ($263.8 billion) and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($245.4 billion).
Tesla's slump follows the company’s quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, in which the automaker reported $28.2 billion in revenue, beating consensus analyst estimates of $27.2 billion, according to FactSet, while posting earnings that fell well below projections of 55 cents at 33 cents.
Chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja, during Tesla’s earnings call, reiterated plans for the automaker to spend $25 billion this year and more in the coming years.
That brought some criticism from Wall Street: Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note that while Tesla’s spending is a “necessary investment,” the company will need to present “tangible” milestones for its robotaxi and Optimus programs.
Canaccord Genuity analysts echoed that sentiment, writing the firm wanted to see meaningful robotaxi deployments over the next six months as Tesla ramped up its AI strategy.
surprising factCanaccord analysts noted they hoped to see momentum around a merger between Tesla and SpaceX. In Tesla’s earnings call, Musk deflected a question about a possible tie-up following months of speculation: “We can’t talk about, you know, combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call—it has got to be done with the appropriate process.” Musk did note there is “more and more overlap” between his two firms, pointing to Starlink’s integration in Cybertrucks, and TeraFab, a proposed AI chip manufacturing venture between Tesla, SpaceX and the former xAI, which is now a SpaceX subsidiary.
what to watch forSpaceX will launch its 13th test flight of the Starship rocket on Thursday, its first since the rocket maker’s initial public offering last month. An earlier launch scheduled for last week was aborted after Musk said some of the rocket’s engines failed to start. That pushed SpaceX shares down by more than 4%, lowering Musk’s net worth by more than $45 billion.
contraSpaceX shares were largely flat on the day, down only 0.1% as of around 1:45 p.m. EDT, having little impact on Musk’s fortune.
key backgroudnMusk’s fortune has fallen more than $700 billion from its peak, which came shortly after SpaceX’s IPO. A trading debut for his SpaceX made him a trillionaire, and surging shares in the rocket maker boosted him to a high of $1.45 trillion before a weekslong selloff that has since pushed his net worth below pre-IPO levels. The latest dip in Tesla shares followed speculation from shareholders about whether Musk would reveal updates for Tesla’s Optimus robotics or robotaxi plans, with submitted questions ahead of the automaker’s earnings asking why its robotaxi business had been “stalled.” Another question posed: “What is keeping Tesla back from accomplishing these short-term goals that they’ve set for themselves?”
further readingForbesMusk Says Tesla And SpaceX ‘Can’t Talk About’ Merging On Earnings Call—But Here’s What He Did SayBy Ty Roush
Hatem Dhiab shares his biggest takeaways from Tesla's (TSLA) earnings, including concerns over CapEx climbing toward $25 billion for 2026. He argues that some investors are shifting their attention to SpaceX (SPCX), another Elon Musk-led company with a stock struggling to find its footing.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares are down sharply after the company’s earnings update, putting the stock on track for its worst session in more than a year.
Tesla was down 14% in the session, a move that would mark its worst day since June 2025.
Tesla’s Q2 Earnings MissThe decline follows a disappointing second-quarter earnings report. On Thursday, Tesla reported an adjusted earnings per share of 33 cents, falling short of the 50 cents expected by analysts.
Former Tesla president Jon McNeill noted that these discounts, combined with a significant drop in regulatory credit revenue, have squeezed margins.
Analysts Adjust Tesla Price TargetsTechnical Analysis
Read also
Image: Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Index Dow Jones -0,92 % na 51739,82 b. S&P 500 -1,19 % na 7409,52 b. Nasdaq Composite -2,1 % na 25151,85 b.
Index Dow Jones odepisuje téměř procento pří výprodeji technologických společností. Mimo Alphabet klesá i Amazon (- 4,1 %) a Salesforce ( -3,5 %). Z indexu S&P 500 se mimo komunikační služby nedaří zbytné spotřebě, kde reportovala výsledky společnost Tesla (- 14 %).
Thermo Fisher Scientific (8,2 %) roste po kvartálním reportu. Mimo dobré čísla management uvedl, že společnost cítí oživení poptávky ve všech hlavních segmentech. Nejedná se přitom o pouhé doplňování zásob, ale i dodávání analytických přístrojů, jelikož divize Analytical Instruments vzrostla o 15 %. Tržby za minulý kvartál dosahují USD 11,99 mld. a společně se ziskem na akcii USD 6,03 překonávají očekávání trhu. Společnost rovněž navyšuje odhad celoročního zisku na akcii na horní hranu USD 25,33.
Smíšený pocit z kvartálních výsledků mají investoři Freeport-McMoRan (- 2,6 %). Společnost sice dosáhla na lepší ziskovost, než bylo očekávání a reportovala EPS ve výši USD 0,74. Meziroční nárůst prodejní ceny mědi dosáhl 40 %. Vyšší prodejní ceny tak kompenzují nižší objemy produkce, které u zlata dosahují 40 % a u mědi 18 %. Management snížil výhled prodeje v dalším kvartále kvůli pomalému obnovování těžby v indonéském dole, který by měl dosáhnout plnou kapacitu až v příštím roce.
Lockheed Martin (10 %) reportoval silné výsledky za uplynulý kvartál. Růst tržeb dosáhl 11 % na mld. 20,1 USD a zisk na akcii překonal na úrovni USD 7,94 očekávání. Management současně navýšil celoroční výhled a tržby posadil mezi USD 79,75 – 81,75 mld. při zisku na akcii 29,95 – 30,65. Nevyřízené zakázky dosahují historické maximum společnosti USD 230 mld.
Po včerejším uzavření trhu reportovala výsledky i společnost Texas Instruments (- 4,4 %). Růst tržeb meziročně dosáhl na 23 % a nad konsenzus se dostal i zisk na akcii ve výši USD 2,14. Management v dalším kvartálu očekává jeho další růst na USD 2,23 – 2,57. Provozní výsledky a výhled byl slušný, ale trh nadále vyrušuje výše capex investic, které omezuje volné cash flow.
Výsledky dále zveřejnila i IBM (- 0,5 %) a společnost Alphabet (- 6,6 %).
SK Hynix (4,9 %) stanovuje limit na celkový počet vydaných ADR, které se obchodují v USA na 2,5 % všech akcií společnosti.
Uber Technologies (- 2,15 %) propustil 10 % zaměstnanců v divizi Community Operations, která se stará o zákaznickou a řidičskou podporu. Společnost dříve propustila přibližně 23 % zaměstnanců HR. K zefektivnění provozu ji pomáhá umělá inteligence.
Blízký východ je nadále velmi turbulentní. Futures na ropu Brent jsou opět nad USD 100 při téměř 7 % růstu. WTI se obchoduje nad USD 92. Hútíové oznámili, že zaútočili na dva saúdské tankery v Rudém moři. Posilují ropné společnosti. Exxon připisuje 1,87 % a Chevron roste o 1,5 %.
Index S&P 500 -1,19 % na 7409,52 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Průmysl +1,8 % Zbytná spotřeba -4,9 % Energie +1 % Komunikační služby -4,8 % Zdravotní péče +0,8 % Nezbytná spotřeba -1,4 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna Allegion (ALLE) +13 % Tesla (TSLA) -14 % United Rentals (URI) +12 % Rollins (ROL) -9,3 % Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) +10 % Dover Corp (DOV) -7,7 % Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) +8,2 % Globe Life (GL) -7,7 % RTX Corp (RTX) +7,2 % T-Mobile US (TMUS) -6,8 %
Marek Kameništiak
Fio banka, a.s.
Prohlášení
The market has spent the past two years rewarding companies tied to artificial intelligence, robotics, and next-generation infrastructure. Investors are increasingly looking beyond a company’s original business and looking more closely at which ecosystem is building it.
That shift is key because some of today’s biggest winners no longer fit neatly into a single industry. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) and SpaceX (NASDAQ::SPCX) are prime examples. Both are evolving into diversified technology platforms, and their future combination is looking more likely in the near future.
The Market Is Punishing Both Stocks, but for Different Reasons Tesla gave investors another reminder that high expectations can be difficult to satisfy. The electric vehicle maker reported second-quarter earnings yesterday that missed Wall Street’s expectations, and shares are down roughly 8% in premarket trading today following the earnings release.
The disappointing reaction reflects more than weaker vehicle sales. Investors increasingly view Tesla as a company whose future extends well beyond automobiles. Electric vehicles remain the foundation of the business, but management continues to devote enormous resources to energy storage, autonomous driving, humanoid robotics, artificial intelligence, and manufacturing automation. Those businesses could eventually represent a larger share of Tesla’s value than EVs themselves.
SpaceX has experienced a different kind of disappointment. After debuting at $135 per share last month, the stock opened at $150, climbed to $225 within days, and has since fallen to about $115. That’s a decline of roughly 49% from its post-IPO peak in just a few weeks.
Sharp drops after hot IPOs aren’t unusual. Early enthusiasm often gives way to more realistic valuations once investors separate excitement from fundamentals.
“I mean, as you can tell from the many collaborations on so many fronts with SpaceX and there’s a lot — there’s more and more overlap…but obviously, we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call. It’s got to be done with the appropriate process.”
Even so, the strategic logic is becoming easier to see. Neither company is defined solely by its legacy business anymore.
Company Legacy Business New Growth Platforms Tesla Electric vehicles Energy storage, Optimus robotics, AI, autonomous driving, manufacturing software SpaceX Rocket launches and satellite deployment Starlink connectivity, AI infrastructure, government services, communications, defense technologies Tesla needs massive computing power, advanced communications, artificial intelligence, and manufacturing expertise. SpaceX continues expanding Starlink while building technologies that increasingly overlap with AI infrastructure and autonomous systems. They have the massive Terafab chipmaking joint venture underway, too.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
That doesn’t guarantee a merger happens. Antitrust regulators would likely examine any transaction closely, while corporate governance questions would also need answers. The regulatory path could prove long and complicated.
Granted, a full merger isn’t the only possibility. Joint ventures, technology-sharing agreements, or cross-investments could deliver many of the same benefits while avoiding some regulatory hurdles.
Long-Term Investors Should Focus Beyond Today’s Headlines The biggest risk for investors is assuming either company can be valued only on today’s earnings or today’s business.
Tesla’s earnings disappointment overshadowed the fact that management continues investing aggressively in businesses that could reshape transportation, energy, and automation over the next decade. Likewise, SpaceX is becoming more than a launch provider as Starlink, AI infrastructure, and adjacent technologies mature.
Ironically, today’s market weakness may offer patient investors a better entry point than either stock provided just weeks ago. Tesla has pulled back following earnings, while SpaceX trades below its IPO price after one of the quickest post-offering reversals in recent memory.
Key Takeaway In short, betting on a Tesla-SpaceX merger today would be speculative. Regulators could object, shareholders would need to give approval, and management may ultimately pursue a different structure altogether.
Regardless, investors don’t necessarily need a merger for either investment to succeed. The larger story is that both companies are evolving into diversified technology platforms centered on AI, automation, communications, robotics, and energy. Those trends are likely to drive more value over the next decade than electric vehicles or rocket launches alone.
Buying today may not prove to be the absolute bottom. In the end, however, long-term investors willing to tolerate volatility have a compelling case for owning either company — and if some form of combination eventually emerges, it could become one of the most influential technology partnerships of the next decade.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 400 points on Thursday.
Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.95% to 51,720.30 while the NASDAQ declined 1.58% to 25,286.26. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.86% to 7,434.23.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Industrials shares jumped by 2.2% on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, communication services stocks fell by 4.4%.
Top Headline
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dipped more than 12% on Thursday after the company reported mixed second-quarter financial results.
Tesla reported second-quarter revenue of $28.24 billion. The total beat a Street consensus estimate of $25.71 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Second-quarter earnings of 33 cents per share missed a Street consensus estimate of 50 cents per share.
Equities Trading UP
Equities Trading DOWN
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 5.5% to $91.64 while gold traded down 2.3% at $4,056.00.
Silver traded down 3.5% to $58.170 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.5% to $6.3960.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index dipped 1.3% London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7%, Germany’s DAX declined 1.2%, while France’s CAC 40 tumbled 1.6%.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.46%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surging 1.28%, China’s Shanghai Composite rising 0.25% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.47%.
Economics
U.S. initial jobless claims US fell by 22,000 to 187,000 in the week ending July 18, compared to market estimates of 212,000. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index climbed to -0.02 in June from -0.19 in the previous month. Photo via Shutterstock
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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) spent much of its second-quarter update talking about Cybercab production, Robotaxi expansion and artificial intelligence. But the company's fastest-growing business wasn't any of those.
Tesla stock TSLA plunged 13% on Thursday after the electric vehicle maker reaffirmed plans to sharply increase spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The move overshadowed stronger-than-expected revenue and reinforced investor concerns over rising capital expenditure and weakening cash generation.
The stock extended losses after closing 1.3% lower on Wednesday. The stock's market cap is now near the $1 trillion mark.
Tesla reported adjusted earnings of 33 cents per share, below analysts' expectations of 51 cents, while revenue rose to $28.24 billion from $22.5 billion a year earlier, exceeding consensus estimates of $25.71 billion.
The company also reported negative free cash flow for the quarter as capital expenditure surged 142% year over year to $5.79 billion.
Tesla reaffirmed plans to spend more than $25 billion this year as it expands investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, autonomous driving, robotics, and computing capacity.
Alphabet shares also fell more than 6% after the Google parent reported negative free cash flow and raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion, while warning spending would increase further in 2027.
The declines highlighted growing investor concerns that spending on artificial intelligence is rising faster than cash generation across the technology sector.
Tesla said net income declined 5% year over year to $1.11 billion, or 32 cents per share, from $1.17 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.
Automotive revenue increased 23% to $20.52 billion, while revenue from the company's energy business, including solar and battery storage systems, rose 13% to $3.14 billion.
Revenue from services and other businesses, including vehicle repairs outside warranty, climbed 50% to $4.58 billion.
Despite stronger automotive revenue, Tesla's gross margin fell to 16.8% from 17.2% a year earlier, missing analysts' expectations of 19.4%, according to StreetAccount.
The company attributed the pressure in part to lower average selling prices after introducing lower-cost versions of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles following the retirement of the higher-priced Model S and Model X.
AI investment remains priorityTesla said it continues to expand infrastructure supporting its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
“Capacity build out and ramp related to our multi-year infrastructure initiatives, including AI compute, solar, battery material, and semiconductor manufacturing are underway,” the company said in its shareholder presentation.
Chief Executive Elon Musk defended the company's elevated spending during Wednesday's earnings call.
“This is a massive capex year. I’m confident that all the things that we’re investing in will yield incredible returns. Really, maybe the best capex returns that we’ve ever seen,” Musk said.
Tesla also said it is installing first-generation production lines for Optimus, its humanoid robot, and expects production to begin soon.
Executives told investors that the company's fleet of autonomous Cybercab vehicles has now completed 380,000 unsupervised miles, pointing to continued progress in its autonomous driving program.
Analysts remain positive on long-term outlookDespite the market's negative reaction, several Wall Street firms maintained constructive long-term views while lowering their price targets.
JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta lowered his price target on Tesla to $445 from $475 while maintaining a Neutral rating.
Gupta said Tesla shares are "likely to remain range-bound near-term" as forward earnings estimates continue to fall amid rising investment spending.
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh also cut his price target to $450 from $480 while reiterating an Outperform rating.
Rakesh said Tesla remains "well-positioned leading physical AI" through its Cybercab platform, with humanoid robotics offering a longer-term growth opportunity.
He added that favorable regulatory tailwinds should help offset near-term headwinds from European tariffs and the repeal of US EV tax credits, with Tesla likely to face less pressure than its peers.
Piper Sandler maintained its Overweight rating and $500 price target.
Analyst Alexander Potter said the post-earnings selloff was not surprising despite improving long-term indicators.
However, he said Tesla will need to "disprove doubts re: Optimus and Cybercab" before the stock can break out of its current trading range, adding that while he remains optimistic, "catalyst timing is difficult to predict."
Tesla shares had fallen about 11% this month and 17% for the year through Wednesday's close before Thursday's selloff.
The decline has coincided with weakness in SpaceX shares, which have fallen more than 40% from their post-listing peak following the company's June market debut.
Tesla (TSLA) shares plummeted Thursday morning after the electric vehicle maker's quarterly earnings missed estimates as infrastructure spending ballooned.
SummaryTesla, Inc. remains fundamentally a two-model car company, with Model 3 and Model Y accounting for over 97% of Q2 deliveries.Despite record energy storage growth, TSLA's margins face pressure from rising input costs and intensifying competition, especially from Chinese suppliers.TSLA's robotaxi and robotics ambitions continue to miss milestones, leaving little tangible progress to justify its ultra-premium valuation.TSLA is valued as a high-growth tech disruptor, but its core automotive business and nascent ventures do not support its current market capitalization. Getty Images
Investor expectations heading into Tesla, Inc.’s (TSLA) Q2 earnings announcement were rather more subdued than usual. Indeed, some of the company’s normally enthusiastic shareholders entered the quarter sounding downright impatient.
Questions submitted for the earnings call focused
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Key Takeaways Tesla's Q2 revenues beat estimates, but EPS missed as management prioritized expansion over margins.Deliveries rose 25% to 480,126, while active FSD subscriptions climbed 56% to 1.48 million.Tesla expects 2026 CapEx above $25 billion as it scales robotaxi, Optimus, AI and manufacturing. Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to stress expansion, not near-term margin protection. Management pointed to record deliveries, rising FSD adoption and broader robotaxi activity, while also making clear that 2026 is a heavy investment year.
That framing mattered because the quarter mixed a revenue beat with an earnings miss. TSLA reported EPS of $0.33 compared with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.50, a 34.00% miss, while revenues of $28.23 billion topped the consensus estimate of $25.80 billion by 9.40%.
TSLA Leans Into a Bigger Build-OutChief executive officer Elon Musk described Tesla’s current phase as one of unusually large capital deployment, tied to autonomy, robotics, semiconductors, batteries and solar manufacturing. He said the company is making what it views as some of its most important long-term infrastructure bets.
That posture was reinforced in the shareholder update, where Tesla said it is in its “largest and most exciting period of investment” and remains focused on long-term value creation even as scaling stays nonlinear.
The company’s outlook slide also kept the emphasis on capacity expansion, vertical integration and future AI, software and fleet-based profits rather than near-term earnings optimization. Tesla said Semi and Megapack 3 remain on schedule for production starting in 2026, while first-generation Optimus lines are being installed ahead of 2026 production.
Tesla Balances Delivery Strength With Cost PressureChief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja said vehicle demand continued to recover through the quarter, helping Tesla post record Q2 deliveries and its largest order backlog since 2023. The update deck showed total deliveries rose 25% year over year to 480,126, while active FSD subscriptions increased 56% to 1.48 million.
The financial picture was less clean. Revenues rose 26% year over year to $28.24 billion, but operating margin fell to 1.4% from 4.1% a year ago as operating expenses climbed 47% and free cash flow turned negative $1.09 billion.
Taneja said automotive margins were pressured by the absence of prior-quarter warranty and tariff benefits, while higher interest rate subvention costs also hurt results. He added that energy gross margin fell sharply because of a vendor cell warranty true-up, the loss of prior tariff benefits and lower industrial storage pricing.
TSLA Sees FSD and Robotaxi as Demand DriversMusk and Taneja both framed FSD as a growing sales catalyst rather than just a software attachment. Taneja said about 55% of North American deliveries included an FSD subscription at delivery, and he expects future monetization to lean more heavily toward subscriptions as Tesla removes the purchase option in most markets.
Tesla also widened the robotaxi story beyond Austin. The shareholder deck said robotaxi operations are now live in seven major metros, while the call detailed unsupervised service in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, with Bay Area operations running with a safety driver.
Executive officer Ashok Elluswamy said Tesla had driven more than 380,000 unsupervised robotaxi miles across six cities with no notable incidents and was still compounding weekly miles at a double-digit rate. That was one of the clearest signs on the call that management sees autonomy scaling as an operating reality, not just a product roadmap.
Tesla’s Q&A Added Detail on Supply and PartnersAnalyst questions focused on whether Tesla can scale its newer bets without bottlenecks. In response to a Morgan Stanley question, Musk said suppliers including Samsung, TSMC, Panasonic and Micron are making major investments to support AI compute, batteries and other needs tied to Optimus and robotaxi.
Management also used Q&A to address regulation. Asked by a BofA analyst about evolving state rules, vice president of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said Tesla wants regulations centered on performance outcomes rather than prescribed technical solutions.
A Wells Fargo analyst asked about Tesla’s expanding work with SpaceX. Musk and general counsel Brandon Ehrhart pointed to broader collaboration around Terafab, Digital Optimus and connectivity, including plans to integrate Starlink into Cybercab and other vehicles in markets where the network is active.
TSLA’s Spending Plans Stay AggressiveTaneja said CapEx more than doubled sequentially in Q2 and will increase further in the second half. Tesla still expects capital spending to exceed $25 billion in 2026 as it expands robotaxi, Optimus, AI compute, semiconductor and solar manufacturing capacity.
He also said Tesla is arranging debt facilities that could provide up to $30 billion of borrowing capacity to accelerate those investments. That marked one of the call’s most important capital allocation messages because it showed management is willing to use the balance sheet more actively to fund this build cycle.
The shareholder update paired that spending with a liquidity message. Tesla ended the quarter with $43.52 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, down from $44.74 billion in Q1.
Tesla’s Tone Stayed Firmly Long TermThe broad tone from Musk and his team was confident, but not especially defensive about near-term profitability. Management repeatedly returned to factory utilization, software adoption, fleet expansion and infrastructure build-out as the priorities that matter most from here.
That left the quarter looking less like a margin story than a transition period. Tesla is asking investors to measure its progress through demand, deployment and capacity creation while it absorbs the costs of a much larger operating ambition.
TSLA’s Zacks SignalsTSLA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), along with a Value Score of F, Growth Score of A, Momentum Score of A and VGM Score of B, based on the provided Zacks data. Under the Zacks framework, a Hold-rated stock can still be owned, but the best return profile generally comes from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) stocks paired with Style Scores of A or B. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Tesla’s A grades for Growth and Momentum and VGM Score of B point to stronger characteristics in those styles than in value. Still, Zacks says earnings estimate revisions remain the most important driver in the system, and the Zacks Rank can change after a results report as analyst estimates are updated.
Buried in Tesla’s earnings report’s cash flow statement is a $1.005 billion pretax unrealized gain on its SpaceX investment, equal to $763 million after tax.
While Tesla didn’t receive any cash or sell any shares, the after-tax gain accounted for roughly 68.5% of the company’s $1.114 billion GAAP net income. The revaluation of Tesla’s SpaceX investment is one of the quarter’s biggest contributors to the EV maker’s bottom line.
Even though Tesla didn’t sell a single SpaceX share or receive any cash from the investment.
SpaceX Bounty: Paper Gain, Not Cash ProfitThe gain resulted from an increase in the estimated value of its SpaceX investment, which it purchased earlier this year for $2.002 billion. The company owns less than 1% of SpaceX and does not control the aerospace company.
Tesla recorded a pre-tax $1.005 billion gain on the investment. Because the gain was non-cash, the company removed it when reconciling net income to operating cash flow and also excluded it from its non-GAAP earnings presentation.
The numbers put the investment into perspective. The pre-tax paper gain alone was more than two-and-a-half times Tesla’s operating profit (which was $398 million).
Tesla’s automotive, energy storage and services businesses collectively produced just $398 million of operating profit, while the accounting gain on its SpaceX investment added more than $1 billion before taxes.
So, nearly 70% of Tesla’s GAAP earnings came from a non-cash increase in the estimated value of its SpaceX stake—not from manufacturing or selling products.
Why Tesla’s GAAP And Adjusted Earnings Tell Different StoriesThe SpaceX gain was included in Tesla’s official GAAP earnings under accounting rules governing equity investments, even though the company did not monetize its stake.
The SpaceX gain also helps explain why Tesla reported different GAAP and adjusted earnings.
Tesla reported GAAP net income of $1.114 billion, which included the after-tax SpaceX gain. It also reported non-GAAP net income of $1.153 billion, excluding the $763 million after-tax SpaceX gain along with several other items, including $989 million of stock-based compensation expense, an $87 million digital-asset loss and certain tax adjustments.
Although Tesla removed the $763 million after-tax SpaceX gain, it added back an even larger $989 million stock-based compensation expense, along with other adjustments, resulting in slightly higher adjusted earnings.
Why Investors Should Watch ItThe disclosure doesn’t mean Tesla’s automotive business suddenly became less important, nor does it suggest the company generated an extra $763 million in cash.
Instead, it underscores how investments outside Tesla’s core operations can materially influence reported earnings under GAAP accounting. If SpaceX’s valuation continues to rise—or falls in future quarters—that stake could create meaningful swings in Tesla’s reported profit even if vehicle deliveries, energy storage deployments and operating performance remain largely unchanged.
For investors, the quarter served as a reminder that one of the biggest drivers of Tesla’s headline earnings wasn’t what happened inside its factories. It was the changing value of a minority stake in another Elon Musk company.
Photo courtesy: Rokas Tenys on Shutterstock.com
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HomeIndustriesAutomobilesEarnings ResultsEarnings ResultsTesla’s stock heads for its worst drop in a year after the company’s earnings call leaves Wall Street with more questions than answersJuly 23, 2026, 11:24 a.m. ET
Tesla’s earnings commentary wasn’t enough to justify the company’s big-spending ways, and its shares are sliding on Thursday.
“Commentary on key growth drivers, Optimus and Robotaxi, was muted given the magnitude of technology challenges even as [electric-vehicle] sales appear robust,” Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch said in a note to clients.
Business has been a little bumpy for Tesla (TSLA -13.23%) over the past couple of years. In fact, after delivering a record 1.8 million vehicles in 2023, its deliveries promptly dropped for two consecutive years. Last year was filled with speed bumps that extended beyond vehicle deliveries.
Then something intriguing happened: Tesla's second-quarter deliveries soared far above Wall Street's average estimates. Investors might be overlooking the most impressive part of the data -- that Tesla held its own in a brutal Chinese market while a number of domestic automakers did not.
Numbers jump unexpectedly On paper, the Q2 numbers were exactly the blowout delivery numbers Tesla needed after many months of bad news. Tesla delivered just over 480,000 vehicles globally during the second quarter. This was a solid 25% year-over-year gain and easily topped Wall Street analysts' estimates of about 406,000 vehicles. That result was the best Q2 of deliveries in Tesla's history.
Most investors keyed in on Tesla's results in Europe, and it's true that the region played a big role in the blowout Q2. While Tesla doesn't break out its delivery numbers by region, we can get a solid sense of the growth trend from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, which tracks registration data. That data from January through May this year showed a 77% year-over-year growth in Tesla registrations.
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Don't overlook the China result Despite Europe likely driving much of the Q2 surprise result, Tesla's decline of only 2% in China amid a softening economy, reduced electric vehicle (EV) incentives, and a brutal price war might actually be the more impressive feat.
Even BYD, China's juggernaut EV maker that's expanding rapidly around the globe, posted a 40% decline in domestic Chinese deliveries through the first half of the year, though this figure includes battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). BYD has turned its focus to exports to offset this weakness.
For Tesla, despite the slight Q2 decline, it was still a nearly 12% gain over the first quarter. If you consider Tesla's wholesale deliveries in China (which includes exports), that figure was up nearly 33% compared to the prior year.
Image source: Tesla.
Here's just one example of how competitive China's automotive market is right now. Competitors in China have been forced to churn out new vehicles and/or refreshes more rapidly to lure in consumers on factors other than price. Simply put, new vehicles sell faster and with fewer incentives, and in a price war, refreshing the lineup is important. Because of that push, Chinese automakers have released around 650 new models since January. That's staggering.
To be fair, that 650 figure includes facelifts, refreshes, and all-new models. If we narrow it down to only all-new models, which are vehicles that don't have a previous version in China, automakers are still pushing out 30 all-new models each month since January. In contrast, the U.S. does roughly 30 all-new models annually.
What it all means BYD's Executive Vice President, He Zhiqi, called the 650 figure "completely insane" on social media, before continuing to say that the Chinese auto market is "not just fierce, but brutal."
Tesla holding its own in China while some large domestic competitors such as BYD spiral, along with months of growing momentum in Europe, were exactly what Tesla needed during the second quarter. The question remains, however: Is this rebound sustainable?
There's a sound argument that the Iran conflict, which has affected oil prices in Europe, has given a boost to EV sales in the region, and it's uncertain how that trend will change in the near term. It's also fair to wonder if Tesla's thin and aging vehicle lineup can sustain this type of rebound through even the second half of 2026.
Either way, after two years of mostly bad delivery news, this might be the first Tesla delivery data that could inspire confidence -- and holding its own in China was more impressive than it's getting credit for.
Tesla (TSLA) shares sold off more than 13% in the first hours of Thursday's trading session on mixed earnings and a note that CapEx will tap $25 billion. Marley Kayden breaks down why investors are moving away from Tesla's stock as it trades as the worst performing name in the S&P 500 (SPX).
SummaryTesla, Inc. reported Q2 revenue growth but missed EPS, with operating margin collapsing to 1.4% and negative free cash flow.TSLA's ambitious projects—Optimus, Cybercab, and Megapod—are capital-intensive, with no clear path to profitability or detailed execution plans.FSD attach rates now exceed 55%, providing a competitive advantage, yet margin compression and rising capex overshadow these positives.I remain bearish on TSLA stock, as its valuation demands sustained execution while the company burns cash in a highly competitive, capital-intensive landscape.This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, The Pragmatic Investor. Learn More » ankarb/iStock via Getty Images
Thesis Summary Tesla, Inc.'s (TSLA) beat revenues in Q2 but missed on EPS, and the stock is down over 4%, which I don’t find surprising.
Operating margin has collapsed to 1.4%, free cash flow was negative, and
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Tesla’s budding “Robotaxi” network drove fewer miles for paying customers in the second quarter than it did in the first, according to a chart the company released on Wednesday.
The quarter-over-quarter decline runs counter to Tesla’s rhetoric and actions in the past year. Tesla has staked much of its future on the idea of a massive, low-cost, cash-generating Robotaxi fleet — or going “balls to the wall for autonomy,” as CEO Elon Musk framed it in 2024. The quarterly step-down in Robotaxi miles also comes amid weakening profits in Tesla’s core businesses, which underperformed Wall Street’s expectations, according to figures released Wednesday. Tesla’s stock plunged more than 13% in early trading on Thursday.
At a passing glance, the chart appears to show steady growth in paid Robotaxi rides between August 2025 and June 2026. But the numbers displayed are cumulative, and when broken down by quarter, they show that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet of Model Y SUVs carrying paying passengers covered around 1.1 million miles in the first quarter. That fell to roughly 700,000 miles in the second quarter, a decline of about 36%.
That’s despite the fact that the company has expanded its nascent operation to six cities across Texas and Florida, with a mix of unsupervised and supervised vehicles.
Image Credits:Tesla It’s likely Tesla is counting the paid miles driven in the San Francisco Bay Area, too, even though these branded Robotaxis don’t have the state-required permits to operate autonomously and also have a safety driver behind the wheel. Tesla has referred to that operation as part of its “Robotaxi coverage.”
The decline in miles driven also comes as Tesla made a striking admission on a conference call Wednesday about its second-quarter results. In response to a question about how slowly Tesla is scaling the Robotaxi service, Musk said the company needs to “accumulate driving data that is specific to the Cybercab” — the company’s gold, purpose-built, two-seater sedan that is expected to make up the bulk of its autonomous vehicle fleet — “before we can put a lot of them on the road.”
“Unlike, say, Model 3, Model Y, and our other vehicles where we’ve got a lot of vehicles on the road, millions of vehicles on the road, we don’t have that for Cybercab. So we actually have to accumulate miles with Cybercabs that are retrofitted with steering wheels and acceleration and braking pedals, that kind of thing, to calibrate to the Cybercab chassis,” he said. “As we are confident about that, the number of Cybercabs in cities will increase dramatically.”
This represents something of a break from claims the company has made for years about how its fleet of nearly 10 million customer cars has been silently collecting data in the background to train future robotaxis (in addition to training the driver assistance software for consumers, which Tesla calls Full Self-Driving).
On the call, Tesla executives framed the slow progress as a matter of being cautious about safety.
“Our goals are very ambitious for Robotaxi, but we do need to be cautious about causing any accidents or causing any harm to anyone,” Musk said.
He then said he doesn’t want Tesla Robotaxis causing accidents because he thinks bad media coverage could lead to a regulatory crackdown.
“Although there are, I think, 30 to 40,000 automotive deaths per year in the United States alone, most of those do not generate any press, you don’t really read about almost any of those. But if we injure even one person, it will be worldwide headline news, and regulators will immediately clamp down on our activities,” he said.
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI, boasted that Tesla’s Robotaxis have had “zero notable incidents” while driving “more than 380,000 miles” without a safety operator onboard. He did not define what the company considers “notable incidents,” though he claimed that “any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary.”
Tesla has reported 22 crashes to the National Highway Safety Administration in the year since it started trialing its Robotaxi service. While most of them involve other cars crashing into Tesla’s Robotaxis, the company has reported three crashes caused by its teleoperators moving the vehicles remotely, and multiple instances of the cars hitting objects at low speeds including curbs, utility poles, and a tow truck’s bed.
This represents another narrative change for the company. Tesla spent years claiming that the largest hurdle to full-scale Robotaxi deployment was regulatory in nature — though the company never really specified what those prohibitive regulations were.
Now the company says proving safety is all that’s holding Robotaxis back. And although it is still in the very early stages, Tesla still chose this moment to take a victory lap about its decision to build an autonomy stack that doesn’t use radar or lidar sensors, like industry leader Waymo.
“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need lidars, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here, we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras,” Elluswamy said.
Both Musk and Elluswamy also promised growth is coming. They noted that the number of unsupervised miles traveled has grown roughly 10% every week since Tesla started offering them at the end of last year.
“We’ll continue to scale, I think, very, very rapidly,” Musk said.
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D3 Energy Ltd (ASX:D3E, OTCQX:DNRGF) has started a two-well drilling program at the Nooitgedacht area of its wholly owned ER315 permit in South Africa, targeting an expansion of its helium and natural gas reserve base.
The company has successfully spudded the first well, NGT245 E, in the northwestern portion of ER315 in the Free State Province.
Drilling will target faulting and associated fractures within the Witwatersrand formation to assess reservoir deliverability and gather further data on helium and methane concentrations.
The campaign is also intended to support the conversion of additional exploration areas into production rights.
Testing high-grade helium area The two-well program comprises NGT245 E and NGT245 D, both positioned near the historical Nooitgedacht Major borehole.
Production testing of that borehole in January 2025 delivered an average flow rate of 95,000 standard cubic feet per day, with helium concentrations of 5.6% and methane concentrations of 83.2%.
Nooitgedacht is around 43 kilometres north of D3 Energy’s Bloemskraal area, where the company has already booked reserves supporting a Production Right application submitted last year.
Both areas are associated with major structural corridors within ER315, with Nooitgedacht positioned along the Homestead Fault.
“The spudding of our first well at Nooitgedacht is another step forward in our methodical appraisal of ER315 as we look to build upon and extend the company’s ER315 reserve base some 40 kilometres to the north,” managing director and chief executive David Casey said.
NGT245 E to inform development decisions NGT245 E is budgeted to cost approximately A$200,000 to drill and complete.
Should the well successfully intersect gas, D3 Energy plans to undertake production testing to assess flow performance and obtain data relevant to well interference and spacing.
The results will help guide the ongoing development of ER315 and inform potential additional Production Right applications to South African authorities.
Next steps D3 Energy will complete drilling at NGT245 E before progressing to the second planned well, NGT245 D.
Successful gas intersections will be followed by production testing, with results expected to strengthen the company’s technical dataset and support further reserve definition and permitting activities.
About D3 Energy D3 Energy is an Australian-listed helium and natural gas exploration company focused primarily on ER315, PR016 and ER386 in South Africa’s Free State Province.
The company holds a 479,409-acre regional land position, with ER315 having returned independently verified helium concentrations of up to 8%.
D3 Energy has also expanded into Australia through the acquisition of prospective helium and hydrogen permits in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin.
Ross Gerber, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, urges for a merger between Tesla and SpaceX. He adds that buying SpaceX shares below the IPO price is a "no-brainer" for investors.
Key Takeaways The share of SpaceX stock that’s reportedly been sold short has ballooned to about 32% from less than 7% a month ago.The surge in short interest coincides with a stock slump that has weighed on the portfolios of individual investors who own any fund tracking the hugely popular Nasdaq-100 index. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise.
“SpaceX will be worth more than Earth if we achieve our goals,” Elon Musk recently said. Investors think that’s a very big “if.”
Investors have reportedly shorted about 206 million shares of SpaceX (SPCX), or about 32% of the company’s public float, according to estimates from S3 Partners. The latest estimates are an increase from 185 million shares, or about 29% of float, last week, and just 40 million shares, or less than 7% of tradable stock, a month ago.1
Short interest is rising as SpaceX’s share price falls. The stock soared to record high above $225 in its frenzied first days of trading last month, but it’s mostly been downhill from there. Shares closed below its $135 IPO price for the first time last week in the middle of a seven-day slump. The stock snapped its losing streak on Tuesday amid a broad market rally, but slumped nearly 7% to a record low of about $115 on Wednesday.
Why This Is Important To Investors SpaceX’s relatively small public float, speculative nature and high profile have all made it a volatile stock since its debut last month. Rising short interest could exacerbate that volatility if a sudden upswing squeezes short sellers. Though, upcoming lock-up expirations could put even more pressure on shares.
Many 401(k)s Have Exposure to SpaceX Stock The slump has cost Musk his trillionaire status. It’s also been a drag on many everyday investors’ retirement portfolios. Several stock index providers fast-tracked SpaceX’s entry to their indexes.
The stock was added to the Nasdaq-100, one of America’s marquee stock indexes, on July 7, just 15 trading days after its debut. As a result, funds tracking the index, including the Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ), with more than $450 billion in assets, bought the stock when it was trading around $160. Shares have since declined more than 20%.
The Nasdaq-100 is a popular choice among savers. More than 40% of 401(k) plan participants own a fund tracking the Nasdaq-100, according to a recent survey by Shelton Capital Management, and SpaceX accounts for about 1% of the index.2
Nasdaq’s decision to accommodate SpaceX was controversial. New stocks tend to be volatile, and many experts warned SpaceX’s high profile, small float, and the speculative nature of its business would likely amplify that volatility. Historically, pre-IPO buzz has been a short-term boon and a longer-term headwind to stocks. According to Mark Malek, chief investment officer of Siebert Financial, shares of the 10 largest U.S. IPOs in history have underperformed the S&P 500 by 96 percentage points since their listings.
Lock-Up Expirations Could Spark More Volatility There may be more turbulence ahead for unwitting SpaceX investors out there. The company on Tuesday scheduled its first earnings report as a public company for August 4. The print will open the door for company insiders to begin selling shares that have been subject to a post-IPO lock-up period.
Insiders can start selling up to 20% of their locked-up stock, or 911.5 million shares, on August 6. An additional 10%, or 455.8 million shares, will be unlocked if the stock closes at least 30% above its IPO price in five of the 10 trading days leading up to its first report.3 (That 10 day stretch started Wednesday, and the price to watch is $175.50.)
Despite mounting pessimism among short sellers, there are plenty of SpaceX bulls on Wall Street. Nine of the 10 analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha rate the stock a buy, and their median price target of $235 implies more than 100% upside.
For his part, Musk responded to surging short interest on Friday when he wrote in an X post: “The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low.”4
Musk has a history of bitter feuds with short shellers. Tesla (TSLA) was one of the most shorted stocks in history in 2018 when the EV maker was burning through cash and struggling to scale production. Musk accused short sellers of market manipulation and, that August, said he wanted to pay a 20% premium to take Tesla private. “Funding secured,” he infamously tweeted, causing shares to jump. That incident cost Musk $20 million in fines, his Tesla chairmanship, and his unfettered freedom to tweet, but the bears got burned, too. Tesla’s business improved, it turned profitable, and shares rose, culminating in a historic short squeeze in 2020 that reportedly cost hedge funds billions.
The comments suggest SpaceX is becoming more than a technology partner—it is increasingly part of Tesla’s roadmap for artificial intelligence.
SpaceX’s Grok is Becoming Part of Tesla’s AI stackOne of the biggest revelations came when Musk described how Tesla’s Digital Optimus project works.
“SpaceX’s Grok, sort of the big model that is the manager of Digital Optimus and tells Digital Optimus what to do,” Musk said while explaining Tesla’s effort to build a software version of its humanoid robot.
According to Musk, Digital Optimus allows Tesla to train AI systems to operate computers in much the same way Full Self-Driving software learns to operate vehicles. Grok provides the higher-level instructions, while Tesla’s AI systems execute those tasks in real time before those capabilities are transferred to physical Optimus robots.
The comments offered one of Tesla’s clearest explanations yet of how it plans to combine large language models with autonomous robotics.
The Partnership Goes Beyond AIMusk said Tesla’s upcoming Cybercab will integrate Starlink connectivity, with plans to expand the satellite internet service to Tesla’s broader vehicle lineup where available. The goal is to ensure reliable connectivity for autonomous vehicles, particularly in areas where traditional cellular networks remain unreliable.
High-bandwidth connections could also enable passengers to stream entertainment or work while riding in autonomous vehicles.
Tesla also disclosed that it recently expanded its relationship with SpaceX through an investment and a new framework agreement, which executives said will support joint projects including Terafab and Digital Optimus.
A Bigger AI Ecosystem is EmergingThe collaboration doesn’t stop with software or connectivity.
Musk said Tesla’s proposed Terafab semiconductor initiative is aimed at developing advanced AI chips for Optimus, while also confirming SpaceX is involved in the effort. Separately, he described plans for AI “Megapods” that combine Tesla AI computers with conventional servers, allowing compute infrastructure to be deployed wherever electricity is available.
Taken together, the earnings call suggested Musk is building something larger than two separate companies sharing technology. Instead, Tesla increasingly appears to be leveraging SpaceX’s AI models, satellite network and engineering capabilities to accelerate its push into autonomous driving, robotics and AI infrastructure.
For investors, that could become one of the more important long-term takeaways from Tesla’s earnings. While quarterly results focused on vehicle sales and margins, Musk spent much of the call describing an ecosystem where SpaceX and Tesla are becoming increasingly interconnected as they pursue the next phase of AI development.
Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com
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Tesla stock is taking a hit today. What’s weighing on TSLA shares? Tesla Hits $100B TTM Revenue Milestone Despite EPS MissTesla reported adjusted earnings per share of 33 cents, missing the consensus estimate of 50 cents. In addition, it reported revenue of $28.23 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $25.70 billion.
The company reported second-quarter deliveries of 480,126 vehicles, up 25% year-over-year and above the Street estimate of 406,000. The company said it hit $100 billion in trailing-twelve-month revenue for the first time in its history. Active FSD subscriptions reached 1.48 million, up 56% year-over-year and up from 1.28 million in the prior quarter.
Tesla ended the quarter with digital assets worth $674 million, primarily Bitcoin holdings, down from $786 million in the first quarter.
The Future For TeslaTesla said first-generation production lines for its Optimus robot are being installed ahead of production, which the company said will happen “soon.” The Cybercab is now listed as in production, an upgrade from last quarter’s guidance of volume production “this year.” The Tesla Semi is listed as “commissioning” and remains on track for volume production this year.
“We are focused on maximum capacity utilization at our factories,” the company said, adding that deliveries and deployments will depend on demand. Tesla said it has “never been more optimistic about the future.”
Tesla Shares SlipTSLA Price Action: At the time of publication, Tesla shares are trading 7.76% lower at $344.97, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Key Takeaways Tesla's Q2 revenues rose 25.5% to $28.24 billion, while adjusted EPS missed estimates by 34%.Record deliveries and growth in energy and services helped drive revenues, while FSD subscriptions rose 56%.Higher expenses and capex pushed operating income down 57% and free cash flow to negative $1.09 billion. Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of 33 cents per share, which declined 17.5% year over year. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 50 cents by 34%.
Revenues advanced 25.5% to $28.24 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $25.81 billion by 9.41%. Record second-quarter vehicle deliveries and growth across the energy and services businesses supported the top line. Deliveries increased 25% to 480,126 vehicles.
Tesla’s Revenue Growth Broadens Across BusinessesAutomotive revenues rose 23% year over year to $20.52 billion. Automotive sales increased to $20.01 billion from $15.79 billion, while leasing revenues declined to $364 million from $435 million. Regulatory credit revenues fell sharply to $146 million from $439 million.
Energy Generation and Storage revenues grew 13% to $3.14 billion. Services and Other revenues jumped 50% to $4.58 billion, reflecting higher activity across used vehicles, Supercharging, service centers and insurance. Higher Full Self-Driving subscriptions also aided automotive ancillary sales.
Tesla Deliveries Set a Q2 RecordTesla produced 451,758 vehicles, up 10% from the prior-year quarter. Model 3/Y production increased 12% to 442,936 units, while production of other models declined 34% to 8,822 units.
Model 3/Y deliveries rose 25% to 467,762 vehicles, while other-model deliveries increased 19% to 12,364 units. Global vehicle inventory improved to 15 days of supply from 24 days a year earlier. The company exited the quarter with its largest order backlog since 2023.
TSLA Software and Energy Metrics Gain MomentumActive paid FSD subscriptions increased 56% year over year to 1.48 million. Tesla achieved record FSD subscription additions and more than 55% of its North American deliveries included an FSD subscription at the time of purchase.
Energy storage deployments climbed 41% to 13.5 GWh, marking Tesla’s second-highest quarterly deployment volume. The company also expanded its charging network to 8,704 Supercharger stations and 82,357 connectors, representing increases of 18% and 17%, respectively.
Tesla Margins Contract as Expenses ClimbGross profit rose 23% to $4.75 billion, but the GAAP gross margin contracted 41 basis points to 16.8%. Operating expenses surged 47% to $4.35 billion, driven by research and development spending related to AI, Cybercab, Optimus and Tesla Semi, as well as higher stock-based compensation and selling and administrative costs.
Operating income declined 57% to $398 million, reducing the operating margin to 1.4% from 4.1%. Automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits was 16.3% compared with 15% a year earlier and 19.2% in the preceding quarter.
Energy gross margin fell to 20.4%, partly due to a roughly $240 million warranty charge tied to vendor battery-cell issues and the absence of prior-quarter tariff benefits. Services and Other gross margin improved sequentially to a record 14.1%, supported by higher volumes and better fleet cost management.
TSLA Cash Flow Reflects Heavy InvestmentNet cash provided by operating activities increased 85% to $4.70 billion. However, capital expenditures more than doubled to $5.79 billion from $2.39 billion, resulting in negative free cash flow of $1.09 billion.
As of June 30, 2026, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $43.52 billion, up 18% year over year but down $1.22 billion sequentially. Long-term debt and finance leases, excluding the current portion, were $7.92 billion.
Tesla Outlook Prioritizes AI and New ProductsTesla expects 2026 capital expenditures to exceed $25 billion and rise further over the next two to three years. Planned investments include Robotaxi fleet expansion, Optimus production capacity, semiconductor manufacturing, solar production and AI computing infrastructure.
Cybercab production has begun at Gigafactory Texas, while Tesla Semi and Megapack 3 remain scheduled to enter production in 2026. The company is installing first-generation Optimus production lines and expanding Robotaxi operations.
TSLA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Releases From Auto SpaceGeneral Motors Company (GM - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.57 per share, up 41.3% year over year. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.13 by 14.06%. Revenues increased 1.9% to $48.03 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $46.56 billion by 3.15%. Strong pricing, lower costs and disciplined incentives supported results. General Motors raised its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $14-$16 billion from $13.5-$15.5 billion. Adjusted earnings are now projected at $12-$14 per share, up from the prior range of $11.50-$13.50.
Autoliv (ALV - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.43 per share, which increased 10% year over year and came above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.34 by 3.85%. Net sales rose 3.3% to $2.80 billion, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion by 1.45%. Autoliv maintained its 2026 guidance for roughly flat organic sales, an adjusted operating margin of 10.5-11% and operating cash flow of around $1.2 billion. Autoliv’s capital expenditure, net, is expected to remain below 5% of sales.
Genuine Parts (GPC - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.15 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.10 by 2.38%. The bottom line increased 2.4% from $2.10 in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 6% year over year to $6.54 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $6.39 billion by 2.36%. Genuine Parts reaffirmed its 2026 adjusted earnings guidance of $7.50-$8 per share and total sales growth outlook of 3-5.5%. Genuine Parts ended June with $2.3 billion of liquidity, including $559 million in cash.
Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) earnings showed that, at an extremely rapid pace, it has become two companies (at least). One makes and sells cars—the other gambles, often on what appears to be longshots, on AI and robotics. (Tesla does have an energy generation business which produced $3.1 billion, or 11% of the total, in the most recent quarter. It does not fit neatly into either silo.)
The proof that Tesla’s car business continues to be the revenue core is that at $20.5 billion, it was 73% of Tesla’s total revenue of $28.2 billion. Auto revenue was up 23% year over year in Tesla’s second quarter. Overall revenue rose 26%. Net income for the entire company was $1.1 billion, which was down 5% year over year.
Total vehicle deliveries were 480,126 in the quarter, up 25% year over year. Anyone who believes that Tesla’s car operations are in trouble is wrong. China sales may have been unstable over time. Tesla took a brutal beating in the EU last year, and lost the EV sales lead there to China’s BYD. However, this year, EU figures have gotten better. The US remains an EV graveyard, but Tesla is still the market leader, and what might have been major competitors like Ford (NYSE: F) have quit.
Tesla breaks out the status of what it calls its “robotics” operation. It reports that two facilities are under construction. One is in California, and the other is in Texas. Tesla reported, “The initial Optimus builds will be used in our Optimus Academy for training data collection and further functionality development. Additionally, we continued site development at Gigafactory Texas with building construction now in full swing.”
Tesla offered updates to its “robotaxi” business. It admitted that the effort is still in early stages, with wide-scale deployment contingent on both technological breakthroughs and regulatory approvals.
Capital expenditures jumped 142% to $5.8 billion from $2.4 billion in the same quarter last year. Part of the cost of the robotics business is AI training and development of hardware and software that make a robot a real robot (CEO Elon Musk has said that, in the future, the world will have billions of robots).
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
The question is how the company actually gets broken apart. The self-driving parts of the auto business are really AI-based. The ultra-advanced autopilot business is growing rapidly. The system is called Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Tesla said “active FSD subscriptions” rose 56% in the quarter to 1.48 million. It does not function without a car, so it belongs with the auto operations. Similarly, the robotaxi business and its Cybercab are modes of transportation and, thus, cannot be separated from these car operations.
So what does that leave? Robotics and AI are what Musk says are the future of Tesla. That is at the core of the debate over Tesla’s valuation, which is $1.4 trillion. That makes it the 11th most valuable company in the world. The market caps of other major car companies are, in every case, a fraction of that.
Spin-outs and break-ups of public companies are meant as a way to unlock value that is locked because disparate businesses have been put together under one roof. Tesla should “unlock.” Let investors who want to invest in EVs and their software buy an EV stock. Let people who want to own a robotics company that relies on advanced AI features own a robotics company.
The challenge, of course, remains in the execution of such a split. While the automotive arm can provide the cash flow necessary to fund Musk’s more ambitious visions, the robotics side is what currently inflates Tesla’s staggering $1.4 trillion valuation. Once again, by separating them, the market would finally be forced to decide if the robotics venture is a revolutionary tech giant or a speculative longshot, all while allowing the car business to be judged on its industry-leading fundamentals.
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SummaryTesla, Inc. delivered record Q2 revenue and units, but earnings declined and margins compressed, reinforcing my Strong Sell rating.TSLA's Q2 delivery beat was driven by an inventory drawdown and heavy financing subsidies, pushing gross margins down to 16.3% ex-credits despite higher volumes.Capex surged 142% YoY to $5.79B, turning free cash flow negative; management signals further spending increases as major buildouts remain underway.FSD subscription growth and regulatory progress offer TSLA upside, but EU-wide approval is delayed and current autonomy revenues are not enough to offset core margin pressures. jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) just posted its best second-quarter deliveries in company history, yet the stock dropped around 7.5% on the news- the worst day for the shares in nearly a year.
Then, four days later, the
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SummaryCompaniesExecutives cited city-specific rules and operational snags for the measured rolloutAnalyst questioned why fleet size remains in the dozens, not hundredsTesla has contrasted its approach with Waymo's deliberate rolloutLOS ANGELES, July 23 (Reuters) - A year ago, Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab CEO Elon Musk said the company's robotaxi network would expand at a "hyper-exponential rate" and be available to half the population of the U.S. by the end of 2025.
On Wednesday's earnings call, Musk and his executive team struck a more guarded tone as they fielded analysts' questions about a slower-than-expected rollout.
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Since launching a small robotaxi pilot in Austin in June 2025, Tesla has expanded to only a handful of other cities, in Texas and Florida, with service often limited to outlying areas.
Tesla said paying customers have traveled 2.5 million miles in its robotaxi service, including 380,000 miles in rides without an in-vehicle safety monitor.
Tesla's unsupervised robotaxi miles remain well below the more than 220 million autonomous miles driven by Waymo through the end of March, underscoring the lead Alphabet's self-driving unit holds in commercial deployment, Forrester analyst Paul Miller said.
Barclays analysts wrote earlier this month that Tesla's perceived advantage in robotaxis is its "ability to scale more rapidly," but instead it "has been seen by many investors as somewhat 'slow.'"
Investors have valued Tesla on the promise that robotaxis and its Optimus humanoid robots will one day become its primary revenue drivers.
The stock trades at more than 166 times forward earnings estimates, far above the multiples of traditional automakers and Big Tech companies. The stock, which has fallen nearly 17% this year as of last close, was down about 4% in premarket trading.
WHY THE ROLLOUT IS SLOWERBefore the Austin launch last year, Musk talked about how Tesla's technology is "a general solution that works anywhere," in contrast to the more deliberate, city-by-city approach of Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Waymo, the U.S. leader in driverless taxis.
On Wednesday, Musk and other executives delved into the specific details of scaling up robotaxi service in individual cities.
"Regulatory situations are different city by city," said Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering. "The reason we're expanding city by city is to make sure that we're meeting all of those one at a time."
CFO Vaibhav Taneja added "there are different kinks ... not just on the software front, but on the operations front, that we're trying to tackle."
He said the company wants to "sort these things out in a smaller fleet in a controlled manner" before going "really high in terms of deployment."
Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan asked why the number of vehicles is still "in the dozens as opposed to hundreds." What is the "roadblock to start adding more vehicles on the ground?" he asked.
Tesla Vice President of AI Ashok Elluswamy said that even with a few vehicles, "you can get a lot of miles out of them."
He said the growth in robotaxi miles driven is "literally exponential. Just it's in the early part of the exponential. That's why it's hard for others to comprehend."
Musk on Wednesday's call reiterated that Tesla is balancing the pace of the expansion with safety. "We want to grow as fast as possible with robotaxi, without harm to anyone."
In an investor presentation in January, Tesla said that its robotaxis would expand to seven metro areas by the end of June: Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas.
Up until Tuesday, Tesla had only launched in three of those cities: Dallas, Houston and Miami, with service limited to outlying sections of Houston and Miami.
The company announced on Tuesday that it was "now in Tampa & Orlando," following several analyst reports ahead of earnings that mentioned the slow expansion.
But the service areas in those cities, like Miami and Houston, were limited to less-trafficked neighborhoods outside the city centers.
Reuters tested out the robotaxi service in the weeks after the Dallas and Houston launches and found long wait times, with sometimes no availability at all.
Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Mike Colias and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty
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Chris Kirkham is a business reporter in Los Angeles who writes about Tesla, electric vehicles and the wider automotive industry. He previously worked at The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, and has covered topics including tobacco, worker safety, gambling, and the economy over a two-decade career. Contact him at [email protected] or on Signal at chris_kirkham.51
Akash reports on technology companies in the United States, electric vehicle companies, and the space industry. His reporting usually appears in the Autos & Transportation and Technology sections. He has a postgraduate degree in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds. Akash's interests include music, football (soccer), and Formula 1.
On Wednesday’s earnings call, Elon Musk stopped short of confirming a Tesla-SpaceX merger and did something arguably worse for shareholders of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction): he refused to shut the door.
Asked about synergies between his automaker and SpaceX, Musk told analysts, “Well, as you can tell from all the many collaborations on so many fronts with SpaceX, there’s more and more overlap, especially with Terafab, that’s really going to be a gigantic project.” He then pulled back, adding, “But obviously, we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call, it has got to be done with the appropriate process.” Nothing was confirmed. Nothing was denied.
The overlap Musk referenced is already visible. Starlink connectivity is built into Cybertruck and planned across Tesla’s fleet, including Cybercab. The Grok chatbot is embedded in Tesla vehicles, Tesla is supplying batteries and manufacturing know-how to SpaceX, and Terafab is a jointly relevant AI chip facility. Q1 disclosures flagged a semiconductor fab under construction in Austin, and Tesla previously took a $2 billion equity stake in SpaceX. The integration is already operational.
The Dilution Problem Here is the part that should worry Tesla holders. BNP Paribas notes SpaceX’s cash flow is sharply negative. SpaceX is expected to burn roughly $30 billion this year and as much as $194 billion cumulatively through 2030. Folding that into Tesla would almost certainly require fresh equity raises, diluting existing shareholders. BNP Paribas has separately argued a merger “won’t save investors.”
That warning lands on top of a quarter that already rattled the base. Tesla posted Q2 2026 revenue of $28.24 billion, up 25.52% year over year and ahead of consensus, but non-GAAP EPS of $0.33 missed the $0.5367 estimate by 38.51%. Operating margin compressed to 1.4%. Gross margin slipped to 16.8% from 17.2% a year earlier. Free cash flow swung to a negative $1.092 billion as capex jumped 141.81% year over year to $5.789 billion. Shares fell nearly 3% in after-hours trading, and TSLA is now down 16.83% year to date.
Markets are pricing this ambiguity in real time. Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster raised his odds of a Tesla-SpaceX merger from 80% to 90% after the call. Kalshi shows 52% odds of a merger by roughly May 2027. On Polymarket, the year-end 2026 announcement contract sits at 22.5%, with the September deadline at 9.5%.
No terms, structure, or timeline have been confirmed. That is the point. With operating income already down 56.88% year over year and a $25 billion capital budget in flight, Tesla investors now carry a second, unquantified risk: an equity-funded absorption of the most capital-hungry company in Musk’s orbit. Until Musk says otherwise, that risk is priced in and rising.
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Novo Resources Corp (TSX:NVO, OTCQX:NSRPF, ASX:NVO, FRA:1NOR) has filed an independent technical report supporting the mineral resource estimate for the Leven Star Reef at its 100%-owned Belltopper Gold Project in Victoria, while recent drilling at Wyloo in Western Australia has confirmed a significant silver-antimony-zinc mineralised system.
The Leven Star report formalises the mineral resource announced in June 2026, with Novo confirming there are no material differences between the previously released estimate and the figures contained in the final technical documentation.
Leven Star resource report filed The report, titled Mineral Resource Estimate: Leven Star Reef, Belltopper Gold Project, Malmsbury, Victoria, Australia, has an effective date of June 9, 2026, and an issue date of July 22, 2026.
It was prepared by Snowden Optiro principal consultant Janice Graham and independent technical adviser Dr Simon Dominy, both qualified persons under Canada’s NI 43-101 reporting standards.
Novo filed the report to meet Canadian securities law requirements and released it simultaneously to the ASX and TSX in accordance with its ASX Listing Rule 15.7 waiver.
The full report is available through Novo’s regulatory filings and on the SEDAR+ platform.
Wyloo drilling confirms mineralised system At the Wyloo Polymetallic Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara, maiden reverse circulation drilling has confirmed a significant hydrothermal alteration system carrying high-grade silver and antimony mineralisation from surface.
The 16-hole, 2,615-metre program at the Wyloo SE prospect returned a standout intercept of 9 metres at 92 g/t silver and 1,280 ppm antimony from surface, including 1 metre at 460 g/t silver and 1,425 ppm antimony from 2 metres.
Drilling also intersected broad zinc mineralisation, including 3 metres at 3.6% zinc, with a peak one-metre assay of 6.5% zinc within a wider 27-metre mineralised halo.
Exploration model strengthened The program tested mapped quartz-sulphide veining and the northeast-southwest-trending Tasha Fault Zone across seven drill sections.
Novo identified strong sericite and chlorite alteration zones of up to 20 metres thick, accompanied by sulphide mineralisation and highly anomalous arsenic.
Silver, antimony and zinc mineralisation has now been recorded across a 230-metre strike length, supporting Novo’s interpretation that Wyloo SE forms part of a broader mineralised system rather than an isolated occurrence.
