Elon Musk speaks during Tesla’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in Austin, Texas on June 13, 2024.
Source: Tesla Inc.
Tesla will report second-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday. The company’s vehicle delivery report on July 2 was better than analysts had feared but still showed a decline from the previous year.
An earnings call on Tuesday will give investors a better understanding of what CEO Elon Musk and the company are doing to regain growth after reporting the biggest drop in revenue since 2012 during the first quarter.
Some institutional investors will focus on the health of Tesla’s automotive gross margins and the company’s operating costs after it carries out layoffs and offers price cuts and other incentives to push sales of electric vehicles.
According to LSEG, on Monday, analysts expected Tesla to report 62 cents per share in adjusted earnings on revenue of $24.77 billion for the period ended June 30.
Retail investors who submitted questions through the Say Technologies platform are hoping for answers about the company’s delayed plans to launch CyberCab, a “custom robotaxi” and advances in self-driving technology. They also sought details on Tesla’s short-term priorities, the prospects for its fast-moving battery energy storage business, the status of a new factory promised to be built in Monterrey, Mexico, and other issues.
In light of Musk’s recent endorsement from former President Donald Trump, and the CEO becoming a Republican megadon this presidential election cycle, Tesla shareholders also submitted political questions before the call.
One asked, “Do you believe the Trump/Vance admin will support Tesla and EVs? How confident are you based on your conversations?” And another asked, “How can Elon Musk endorse/fund a party that denies climate change, but at the same time, Tesla’s mission statement is downgraded directly to fighting climate change?”
Republican presidential candidate Trump has indicated that he will eliminate subsidies and other federal programs that help buyers, and producers, of electric vehicles specifically but not traditional automakers.
Reuters reported last week that Musk’s political and polarizing statements have “raised concerns about the Tesla brand, especially in liberal states such as California, which accounts for 10% of the company’s global deliveries.” Tesla registrations in the state fell to 52,211 vehicles during the second quarter, according to data from the California New Car Dealers Association.
Investors also submitted questions via Say Technologies about Tesla’s progress in developing humanoid robotics that the company aims to use in its factories.
Musk claimed, during the annual shareholder meeting in June, that Tesla’s Optimus robot would be the catalyst to lift the company’s market cap to $25 trillion one day. Musk also called himself a “pathological optimist” at the meeting.
Humanoid robots
The Tesla Bot humanoid robot from Tesla “Optimus” is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2023 in Shanghai, China, July 6, 2023.
Costfoto | Nurphoto Getty Images
Earlier Monday, Musk said in a social media post on X, Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot will be “really useful” and “low production” for internal use at Tesla next year. He added that it could “hopefully,” be in higher volume production and be available for use by “other companies in 2026.”
In April, Musk told Tesla’s shareholders at the first quarter earnings that Optimus will have “limited production in its own natural factory, doing useful work before the end of this year,” and that Tesla “may be able to sell it outside. by the end of next year.” “
Tesla is a latecomer among tech companies developing humanoid robots. Optimus’ competitors include Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, Unitree and others. Robot companies such as Sanctuary, Apptronik, 1X and Fourier are also working on flexible manipulation hardware, mimicking the human hand.
Musk has a long history of promising investors that a futuristic Tesla product or service will be ready, even if it’s not outside of a design concept.
For example, the billionaire CEO promoted the next generation Roadster concept at an event in November 2017 and again in June 2018 in several tweets. He said at the time, “SpaceX’s option package for the new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket thrusters seamlessly arranged in the car.” The engine would increase speed and “even allow Tesla to fly,” he wrote at the time. The updated Roadster is still not in production six years later, even though the EV maker has taken a $250,000 deposit from a customer who wants it.
In another example, in 2015, Musk told shareholders that Tesla cars would achieve “full autonomy” within three years. In 2016, Musk said that the Tesla car will be able to make a cross-country drive without the need for human intervention before the end of 2017. And in 2019, in a call with institutional investors that will help him raise more than $ 2 billion, Musk said that Tesla will have 1 million robotaxi -ready vehicles on the road in 2020, able to complete 100 hours of driving work per week each, making money for owners.
None of the investor promises have been fulfilled.
Tesla has recently made major changes to its driver assistance software, marketed in the US as Autopilot and FSD-S (Full Self Driving Supervised) to great acclaim and rave reviews among car enthusiasts and owners.
Musk and other executives on the call Tuesday are expected to discuss the challenges the company faces before it can deliver on long-held promises.
