Tesla Revenue Tops Estimates but Profit Slips to 32 Cents a Share as Shares Sink 14.5%

Tesla reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $28.24 billion, beating the $26.32 billion expected per Bloomberg consensus, even as profit fell from a year earlier, according to CNBC and Yahoo Finance. Net income fell 5% to $1.11 billion, or 32 cents a share, from $1.17 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier, CNBC reported. Shares closed down 14.5% on Thursday to $319.69, their lowest close since Aug. 5, 2025, per Yahoo Finance.

Revenue Beats on Record Deliveries

The revenue beat followed record deliveries of 480,126 vehicles, up 25% year over year and well above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 397,466 cited by Yahoo Finance. That is 82,660 more vehicles than consensus, or about 20.8% (480,126 minus 397,466, divided by 397,466), by our calculation. Revenue of $28.24 billion likewise came in $1.92 billion, or about 7.3%, above the $26.32 billion Bloomberg consensus figure (28.24 minus 26.32, divided by 26.32), also our calculation based on the figures reported by Yahoo Finance.

By segment, CNBC reported that Tesla's core automotive business generated $20.52 billion in revenue, up 23% from a year ago. The energy business, which includes solar and battery storage systems, rose 13% to $3.14 billion. Services and other revenue, which includes fees for repairing vehicles out of warranty, jumped 50% to $4.58 billion.

Margins Compress as Spending Rises

Despite the top-line strength, gross margin slid to 16.8% from 17.2% a year earlier, missing the 19.4% analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount as cited by CNBC. CNBC attributed the shortfall to a lower average selling price per vehicle and declining regulatory credit revenue; no dollar figure for regulatory credit revenue was reported.

Operating expenses rose 47% to $4.35 billion as Tesla increased spending on artificial intelligence and research projects, CNBC reported, pushing operating margin down to 1.4% from 4.1% a year earlier. Yahoo Finance separately reported that adjusted EBITDA came in at $3.2 billion, versus $4 billion expected.

Capex Guidance and AI Infrastructure

On the earnings call, Elon Musk called 2026 a "massive capex year," and Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said capital expenditures would be "more than $25 billion" this year, against analyst expectations of $25.16 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. Taneja also told investors that operating expenditures will "grow in 2026 and beyond," CNBC reported. Tesla said in its earnings deck that "Capacity build out and ramp related to our multi-year infrastructure initiatives, including AI compute, solar, battery material and semiconductor manufacturing are underway," and Musk said the company had already ordered equipment for a "development fab" while declining to discuss other details of the "high-risk, high-payoff bets" it is making around AI chips, per CNBC.

Analyst reaction centered on the payoff from that spending. "The open question remains the timing of when we actually see the ROI – specifically, a scaled robotaxi network that demonstrates increasing density and improving safety within existing cities, plus tangible progress commercializing Optimus," Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco wrote in a note published Thursday morning, Yahoo Finance reported. Mizuho cut its Tesla price target to $450 from $480, citing near-term challenges including tariffs and the loss of tax credits, also per Yahoo Finance.

Bottom Line

Tesla delivered a record quarter by volume and beat revenue expectations, but profit fell 5% year over year, gross margin missed estimates and management guided to higher capital and operating spending, according to CNBC and Yahoo Finance. Interpretation: the 14.5% single-day decline to $319.69, the lowest close since Aug. 5, 2025, suggests investors weighted the margin compression and the "more than $25 billion" capex commitment more heavily than the delivery and revenue beats; the reported figures do not establish when those investments will translate into earnings.