In the wake of an underwhelming earnings call, Tesla saw a post-market decline in its stock price.
Overnight, Tesla announced its second-quarter financial performance, with record-high quarterly revenues, yet lower profit margins. Following the announcement, Tesla's stock price remained largely stable. However, the shares dropped in post-market trading due to CEO Elon Musk's failure to disclose precise specifications and delivery start dates for the Cybertruck and Robotaxi during the call.
Moreover, Musk and other Tesla executives indicated that production is expected to decline in the third quarter due to summer factory upgrades, which led to a roughly 4% dip in the company's stock price after trading hours.
In the second quarter, Tesla reported $24.93 billion in revenue and an 82 cents per share earning, exceeding analysts' expectations. However, the gross margin unexpectedly dropped to only 18.2%, and the free cash flow stood at $1.005 billion, significantly short of the anticipated $2.18 billion by analysts.
In the report, Tesla attributed the lower profit margins primarily to the "mixed pricing" of the cars sold, which reduced the average sales price, and to the rising costs driven by increased internal battery production.
The Enigma of Cybertruck
Last week, the official Tesla Twitter account announced that the first Cybertruck had been produced at its Texas Gigafactory, creating a stir among those interested in the model.
However, Tesla mentioned that even though the "production tool" for the Cybertruck is online, the company is currently only manufacturing "release candidate" versions. Musk stated in the call that mass production of the Cybertruck will begin next year, with deliveries to start later this year, and that the Cybertruck will include "a lot of technology," making its production volume unpredictable.
Tesla stated in the earnings report that the vehicle's length will be less than 19 feet (approximately 5.8 meters), and the bed length will be more than 6 feet (about 1.83 meters), making it shorter than Ford's best-selling truck, the F-150 Lightning.
Musk claimed that the Cybertruck is the first truck shorter than 19 feet, allowing it to fit into standard 20-foot garages that other trucks can't enter. However, this data comes from the current "release candidate" version, and the actual mass-produced model might differ. Reports indicate that this pickup truck is slightly smaller than the original prototype.
Robotaxi: A Missed Surprise
Another much-anticipated surprise, the autonomous taxi service Robotaxi, also failed to materialize this time.
Earlier this year, Musk expressed that Tesla aims to reach the technological level required for Robotaxi by upgrading its autonomous driving system. Analysts have valued this emerging business at up to $870 billion.
However, during the earnings call, Musk did not provide any details about the Robotaxi, but he did maintain that by the end of this year, Tesla's autonomous driving technology would surpass human capabilities.
Since 2016, Musk has been promising that Tesla will deliver self-driving cars, pledging at the time that Tesla would complete a cross-country US trip with no driver intervention in 2017.
So far, that goal has not been met.
Tesla's current driver-assistance systems, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD), launched in the US market still require a human driver ready to take over steering or braking at any time.
