Surveyed analysts predict, as of this writing, that Tesla is expected to post a loss of 46 cents a share even if Chief Executive Elon Musk said in July that, after the electric car company's two straight unprofitable quarters, it would break-even this third quarter.
Last year, during the same period, the company was well-surpassing expectations with a "historic" $6.82 billion revenue from Model 3's increased production and higher sales.
FactSet said Elon Musk's electric car and renewable energy company's earnings are expected to be down to $6.43 billion from $6.82 billion a year earlier.
Though Tesla delivered about 97,000 vehicles, a record for the company after Musk pushed employees to hit or even surpass the 100,000 marks, it obviously still missed the CEO's internal goals.
The type of vehicles that got delivered caused a decline in profits.
Orders for Tesla's high-end Model S sedans and Model X SUVs fell by 37% during the third quarter.
Of the 97,000 vehicles, Tesla delivered, Model 3 cars totaled 79,600 while only 17,400 got delivered from its higher-priced Model S and X vehicles.
Tesla said profitability would return during the last three months of 2019.
However, the US electric carmaker said it would prioritize production capacity expansion and model lineup no matter what.
Still, analysts are seeing the current quarter as profitable with the production of Model 3 at Tesla's new Shanghai facility scheduled by the end of the year.
Investors are likewise watching out for an update on the development of Model Y compact SUV scheduled to hit the market in 2020.
Tesla also has plans for an all-electric pickup truck, the details of which will be released next month.
When it comes to a forecast from Tesla Auto insurance which the company rolled out in August in California, there is no precedent yet to base Q3 earnings from.
Adding a big amount to the company's coffers is the more than $1 billion Tesla makes selling emissions credits in the US for the past three years.
In April, Fiat Chrysler, an Italian-US carmaker agreed to pay the company hundreds of millions of euros to have Tesla in its fleet to avoid fines from the European Union emission rules.
A senior technology research analyst at AB Bernstein, Toni Sacconaghi, likewise estimated that Tesla could get revenue from the Autopilot/FSD software upgrade in the amount of $100 to $250 per car this quarter, across approximately 200,000 cars.
This deferred amount will add somewhere between $15 million to $50 million to its bottom line and make a positive impact on its gross margins.
Sacconaghi pointed out that for every car sold by Tesla, it defers about $2,000 - $3,000 in revenues to Autopilot/FSD.
Half of the deferred $2,000 - $3,000 goes to free/discounted Supercharging, free internet connectivity, and future OTA software updates.
