Tesla shares rose about 10% on Wednesday, helping the stock regain some ground after a dismal first quarter.
But as Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban reports, investors seem more focused on what the electric vehicle maker is promising could happen rather than the current bumpy earnings report:
In numbers, Tesla painted a gloomy picture through its latest quarterly results. But the title tells another story: enthusiasm. New models are on the way, Musk said. And beyond that, Tesla will thrive as a pioneer in autonomous ridesharing.
As sales of Tesla cars faltered, Musk issued an optimistic twist: Tesla is not a car company.
Sales fell 9% from a year ago in the latest quarter, the first decline in four years. Operating profit fell more than 50% compared to the same period last year. The guidance has also been a drag, as executives anticipate “significantly lower volume.”
But the market loved Tesla reassuring the world that cheaper cars were coming. As Jefferies analysts said in a post-report note, “the first impression for us is that CEO Musk is calming the market by accelerating new product launches.”
And Musk, on the earnings call, repeatedly emphasized that investors shouldn’t think of Tesla as an automaker but rather as a digital platform akin to Uber (UBER) and Airbnb (ABNB) for a fleet autonomous.
During the call, when VP of Automotive Engineering Lars Moravy dodged a question about the precise timeline for a $25,000 mass-market vehicle, Musk interjected to say that more details would be provided during Tesla’s robotaxi unveiling on August 8. But he added his patented visionary talent: “The Tesla way of thinking is almost entirely in terms of solving for autonomy and being able to enable that autonomy for a gigantic fleet. »
