- Tesla sales fell nearly 5% in the second quarter.
- Performance was not as bad as analysts had expected.
- Tesla shares rose more than 8% after the news.
Tesla sales fell for a second straight quarter, down nearly 5% from the same period a year ago.
While the drop in deliveries is another sign that the slowdown in the electric vehicle industry is finally taking its toll on Elon Musk’s Tesla, Tuesday’s numbers weren’t as bad as some analysts had expected, sending the stock up more than 8%.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla supporter, called the second-quarter sales results a “tremendous comeback performance” for the electric vehicle company.
“In a nutshell, the worst is in the rearview mirror for Tesla as we believe demand for electric vehicles is starting to return,” Ives wrote in a note to clients.
Tesla reported second-quarter sales of 443,956 units Tuesday morning, down about 4.7% from the same quarter a year earlier but above Wall Street expectations.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected Tesla to deliver 439,302 cars in the quarter, down about 6% from a year ago.
Tesla is ranked on a curve
When evaluating Tesla’s performance, it’s important not to get carried away by the numbers, at least that’s what its most ardent supporters say.
Tesla reported a decline in its financial results in the first quarter, after posting some of its worst results in years. Yet Tesla’s stock reversed a weeks-long freefall in the days following the financial results.
Despite a long list of broken promises, Elon Musk maintains investor confidence by consistently defying expectations when his back is against the wall. Take, for example, the Model 3, which seemed doomed to failure.
Although Tesla felt the effects of the slowdown in the electric vehicle market earlier this year, the barometer of Tesla’s success on Wall Street no longer appears to be tied to its growth.
On the contrary, Musk and his electric vehicle company are being handsomely rewarded provided that the company’s performance is not as bad as we all hope and that Musk provides Wall Street with a blueprint for even stronger growth.
More recently, that plan has relied on a fleet of artificial intelligence-driven robot taxis, which Musk is expected to provide more details on in August.
Tesla is expected to release its second-quarter financial results on July 23 after the market closes.
