Analysts say Tesla reported third-quarter earnings on Oct. 22 after record deliveries, but is also under scrutiny for the slow pace of its ride-hailing service.
The Austin, Texas-based automaker could see lower margins after trimming its aging lineup in the quarter. Demand is likely to drop after September 30. the US EV tax credit will be eliminated.
“Tesla’s core electric car business is facing intensifying competition and slowing demand,” Zacks said on Oct. 20. “The third quarter results were solid, but largely reflected broader industry momentum.
The research firm noted that while Tesla’s third-quarter sales rose 7.4 percent from the year-ago period to 497,099 vehicles, nine-month sales fell 5.9 percent to just over 1.2 million.
Tesla reports financial results on October 22. after the market closed and after earnings were announced, usually led by CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla’s full-year sales are expected to fall to around 1.6 million, according to Visible Alpha estimates cited by Reuters. from 1.8 million Musk said the company’s revenue will grow from driverless robots and robotic humanoids.
Musk is expected to address delays in the rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi and development of the Optimus robot during earnings. Much of Tesla’s $1.5 trillion market value rests on those projects.
“Tesla could hit $2 trillion market cap in early 2026 under bull scenario and $3 trillion by 2026.” end of the year, when full-scale production of the autonomous and robotic roadmap will begin,” analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said on Oct. 19.
Sign up for the weekly Automotive News Mobility Report newsletter to learn about the latest developments at the intersection of transportation and technology.
The questions in the call for retail investors asked for more details on Tesla’s robotaxi pilot project in Austin that began in late June, and the ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area that began in July.
“What are the latest robotaxi metrics (fleet size, total miles, trips taken, intervention rates) and when will safety drivers be removed?” was the top-voted question on a site created to provide the data.
“Can you share the progress of robotaxi development?” was another top-voted question.
Musk said in July that he hopes to have fully autonomous robotaxis serving half of the U.S. population by the end of the year, but for now pilots in Texas and California are invite-only and still use human safety drivers.