Tesla exceeds Q3 earnings expectations with positive cash flow and improved capital expenditures
Tesla recently announced its third-quarter earnings, revealing results that surpassed Wall Street expectations despite some areas of concern. The electric vehicle manufacturer reported a revenue of .05 billion for the quarter, slightly below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of .13 billion. However, this figure was accompanied by an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of [or_text model=”openai/gpt-4o-mini” prompt=”Rewrite the following article for WirePaw in the professional, objective style of a top newspaper like the NY Times. Expand to at least 350 words. Requirements: SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free. Replace any mention of the original source with ‘a media source’. Do not mention the author. Do not include quotation marks, markdown, or any code in the output. At the very end of the article, on a new line, output only the most relevant tags from this exact list as hashtags: #business #politics #entertainment #technology #environment. Only include tags that apply. Example output: #business #technology. Article:
Tesla (TSLA) reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings, with its free cash flow and capex spending coming in ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Tesla reported Q3 revenue of $28.05 billion vs. Bloomberg consensus of $28.13 billion. Tesla posted adjusted EPS of $0.48 vs. the $0.44 estimate, with adjusted EBITDA of $3.90 billion vs. $3.66 billion.
Tesla stock pared some of its earlier losses, with Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein claiming the market was reacting to “capacity constraints in the company’s auto and battery growth, which could slow near-term growth.”
But that might not be the whole story. Tesla reported free cash flow of $1.53 billion vs. an estimated -$4.92 billion, with capital expenditures climbing to $4.732 billion vs. an estimated $7.96 billion for the quarter.
On the earnings call, Tesla updated its full-year capex guidance to $20 billion from $25 billion previously. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said the savings would come from “managing our capital deployment efficiently, and plan to fund [capex] primarily from our cash flows from operations,” he said.
“I think capex is actually ending up being a little lower than we anticipated, but we’ll start to become more meaningful next year. And then noticeable in the tens of billions in ’28,” CEO Elon Musk said on the call.
Roundhill CEO Dave Mazza posits the cutting capex means the Tesla isn’t transitioning fast enough to an AI-focused company betting on robotaxis, Optimus robots, and compute.
Tesla revealed its Optimus robot started production at its Fremont factory. “While we will continue to iterate on the hardware and manufacturing process, we have proven that the current manufacturing process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product,” the company said in its earnings release.
“I would expect that it takes us probably at least a year — maybe a little longer — to get to that annualized rate [1 million units], to get to 20,000 units a week,” Musk said on the earnings call. Musk added that Tesla may release an Optimus demo video in about a month, stressing that he didn’t want the robot’s movements to be preplanned.
Regarding its other AI efforts, Tesla said it plans to reach 400 MW of AI training compute by the end of the year. Tesla said its active FSD (full self-driving) subscriptions climbed to 1.74 million.
“The biggest driver of demand is full self-driving,” Musk said regarding vehicle sales.
“The Cybercab fleet in Austin has grown by a factor of 10,” Musk added while discussing Tesla’s robotaxi fleet. He added, “I don’t think there’s any company in the world that can match our scale with autonomous vehicles.”
Musk also stirred the pot recently with comments about a possible tie-up with SpaceX, his other company.
“I think both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss this idea,” Musk said during SpaceX’s earnings call Tuesday night. “At the request of shareholders, and these special committees consist of independent directors. And because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees.”
He added, “I don’t think we should necessarily assume that I think some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty. And I think that would be overstating it. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes.”
On the Tesla call, Musk briefly touched on it but added nothing new. “With regard to a potential merger with SpaceX, I think I said everything that should be said yesterday [Tuesday],” Musk said.
Teslareported Q3 deliveries of 486,532, down 2% from a year ago but well ahead of the Bloomberg consensus of 463,000. Energy storage deployments came in at 13.7 GWh, up from 12.5 GWh a year ago and Q2’s 13.5 GWh.
Tesla began commercial Cybercab service in Austin on Sept. 3, but federal regulators have questions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued Tesla a special order with 21 requests on how it self-certified the Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals, as compliant with federal safety standards. Tesla asked for an extension to Nov. 20. NHTSA granted 30 days instead, making answers due Oct. 30.
Tesla also finally revealed its long-delayed Roadster last Thursday at SpaceX’s (SPCX) facility in Waco, Texas. The car used cold-gas thrusters to jump over several Teslas, including a Semi. Tesla said the Roadster hit 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds in a test at the event, and Musk said production starts in 2028.
Deepwater’s Gene Munster called it an “engineering flex” with little commercial value, and Morningstar expects the Roadster to sell fewer than 2,000 units a year.
Pras Subramanian is Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
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“].48, which exceeded the estimated [or_text model=”openai/gpt-4o-mini” prompt=”Rewrite the following article for WirePaw in the professional, objective style of a top newspaper like the NY Times. Expand to at least 350 words. Requirements: SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free. Replace any mention of the original source with ‘a media source’. Do not mention the author. Do not include quotation marks, markdown, or any code in the output. At the very end of the article, on a new line, output only the most relevant tags from this exact list as hashtags: #business #politics #entertainment #technology #environment. Only include tags that apply. Example output: #business #technology. Article:
Tesla (TSLA) reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings, with its free cash flow and capex spending coming in ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Tesla reported Q3 revenue of $28.05 billion vs. Bloomberg consensus of $28.13 billion. Tesla posted adjusted EPS of $0.48 vs. the $0.44 estimate, with adjusted EBITDA of $3.90 billion vs. $3.66 billion.
Tesla stock pared some of its earlier losses, with Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein claiming the market was reacting to “capacity constraints in the company’s auto and battery growth, which could slow near-term growth.”
But that might not be the whole story. Tesla reported free cash flow of $1.53 billion vs. an estimated -$4.92 billion, with capital expenditures climbing to $4.732 billion vs. an estimated $7.96 billion for the quarter.
On the earnings call, Tesla updated its full-year capex guidance to $20 billion from $25 billion previously. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said the savings would come from “managing our capital deployment efficiently, and plan to fund [capex] primarily from our cash flows from operations,” he said.
“I think capex is actually ending up being a little lower than we anticipated, but we’ll start to become more meaningful next year. And then noticeable in the tens of billions in ’28,” CEO Elon Musk said on the call.
Roundhill CEO Dave Mazza posits the cutting capex means the Tesla isn’t transitioning fast enough to an AI-focused company betting on robotaxis, Optimus robots, and compute.
Tesla revealed its Optimus robot started production at its Fremont factory. “While we will continue to iterate on the hardware and manufacturing process, we have proven that the current manufacturing process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product,” the company said in its earnings release.
“I would expect that it takes us probably at least a year — maybe a little longer — to get to that annualized rate [1 million units], to get to 20,000 units a week,” Musk said on the earnings call. Musk added that Tesla may release an Optimus demo video in about a month, stressing that he didn’t want the robot’s movements to be preplanned.
Regarding its other AI efforts, Tesla said it plans to reach 400 MW of AI training compute by the end of the year. Tesla said its active FSD (full self-driving) subscriptions climbed to 1.74 million.
“The biggest driver of demand is full self-driving,” Musk said regarding vehicle sales.
“The Cybercab fleet in Austin has grown by a factor of 10,” Musk added while discussing Tesla’s robotaxi fleet. He added, “I don’t think there’s any company in the world that can match our scale with autonomous vehicles.”
Musk also stirred the pot recently with comments about a possible tie-up with SpaceX, his other company.
“I think both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss this idea,” Musk said during SpaceX’s earnings call Tuesday night. “At the request of shareholders, and these special committees consist of independent directors. And because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees.”
He added, “I don’t think we should necessarily assume that I think some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty. And I think that would be overstating it. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes.”
On the Tesla call, Musk briefly touched on it but added nothing new. “With regard to a potential merger with SpaceX, I think I said everything that should be said yesterday [Tuesday],” Musk said.
Teslareported Q3 deliveries of 486,532, down 2% from a year ago but well ahead of the Bloomberg consensus of 463,000. Energy storage deployments came in at 13.7 GWh, up from 12.5 GWh a year ago and Q2’s 13.5 GWh.
Tesla began commercial Cybercab service in Austin on Sept. 3, but federal regulators have questions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued Tesla a special order with 21 requests on how it self-certified the Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals, as compliant with federal safety standards. Tesla asked for an extension to Nov. 20. NHTSA granted 30 days instead, making answers due Oct. 30.
Tesla also finally revealed its long-delayed Roadster last Thursday at SpaceX’s (SPCX) facility in Waco, Texas. The car used cold-gas thrusters to jump over several Teslas, including a Semi. Tesla said the Roadster hit 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds in a test at the event, and Musk said production starts in 2028.
Deepwater’s Gene Munster called it an “engineering flex” with little commercial value, and Morningstar expects the Roadster to sell fewer than 2,000 units a year.
Pras Subramanian is Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
“].44. Furthermore, Tesla’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reached .90 billion, surpassing the expected .66 billion.
While Tesla’s stock initially struggled, recovering some of its losses after the announcement, industry analysts attributed the market’s reaction to perceived capacity constraints in the company’s automobile and battery production, raising questions about the potential for near-term growth. In a notable highlight, Tesla reported free cash flow of .53 billion, significantly higher than the forecasted negative cash flow of -.92 billion. Capital expenditures for the quarter were .732 billion, notably below the projected .96 billion.
During the earnings call, Tesla’s management revised the full-year capital expenditure guidance down from billion to billion, indicating a strategic shift in managing cash flow more effectively. CEO Elon Musk elaborated on future capital expenditures, suggesting that while present spending may be lower than earlier predictions, the company anticipates meaningful investment increases in the coming years.
Tesla’s ventures into artificial intelligence technology reveal its ambition beyond electric vehicles alone. The company recently confirmed the commencement of production for its Optimus robot at its Fremont facility, emphasizing that the manufacturing process is well-suited for a commercial product. Moreover, Musk indicated that the company aims to reach a training capacity of 400 megawatts of AI compute by year’s end.
Tesla’s long-awaited Roadster was unveiled at SpaceX’s facility in Waco, Texas, presenting innovative features, such as the use of cold-gas thrusters. While Grand expectations accompany the release of the Roadster, analysts have pointed out that its commercial viability may be limited.
Concerning its autonomous vehicle segment, Tesla reported that demand for its full self-driving capability continues to drive sales, with subscriptions reaching 1.74 million. Despite this, regulatory scrutiny looms over its Cybercab service launched in Austin, which is currently under review by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
As Tesla navigates these diverse challenges and growth opportunities, the broader implications for the electric vehicle and tech landscape remain significant.
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