A emblem for Tesla is seen on a automobile at a Tesla facility Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Portland, Ore.
Jenny Kane/AP
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Jenny Kane/AP
Tesla’s first quarter earnings beat Wall Road’s expectations, with income coming in 16% greater than the primary quarter of final yr. The outcomes briefly despatched the corporate’s inventory surging in after-hours buying and selling.
However then CEO Elon Musk began off the quarterly earnings name with traders and analysts by reminding them that the corporate is planning vital expenditures. “We’ll be considerably rising our investments sooner or later,” he mentioned, referring to the $25 billion the corporate plans to spend this yr alone on AI software program and chips, in addition to extra conventional manufacturing and design prices. That cautionary notice dampened Wall Road’s enthusiasm and erased the inventory’s bump.
The corporate’s stronger-than-expected efficiency got here regardless of a slowdown in Tesla’s vitality storage enterprise — promoting batteries that keep in a single place, fairly than batteries for autos. Tesla has additionally suffered a drop in income from regulatory credit. Rival automakers who’re falling in need of authorities necessities for fuel-efficient and zero-emission autos will pay Tesla to get “credit score” for its zero-emissions automobile manufacturing, off-setting their very own gas-guzzlers — however the Trump administration’s coverage shifts make such purchases more and more pointless.
Tesla’s income, whereas exceeding expectations, weren’t nice by the corporate’s personal historic requirements. In reality, this quarter Tesla clocked its second-worst web income and automobile deliveries out of the final 12 quarters, in accordance with the earnings report; solely the dismal outcomes from the primary quarter of 2025 have been worse. However they got here in nicely forward of what Wall Road analysts had been bracing for.
Tesla says demand for its EVs is rising in some areas and the corporate is seeing a “rebound” in markets together with North America. Increased automotive costs additionally helped drive income this quarter. Tesla’s U.S. automotive gross sales have slid or stagnated in recent times, thanks partially to Elon Musk’s polarizing political actions, and extra just lately to a broader stoop in U.S. EV gross sales.
“The very fact stays that Teslas are nonetheless actually good electrical autos,” Damon Bell, senior analysis editor at Automobiles.com, informed NPR forward of the earnings.
“The Mannequin 3 and the Mannequin Y are actually form of benchmark autos which are positioned proper in that candy spot,” he mentioned. “They nonetheless have a robust enchantment.”
The corporate additionally elevated income in a class that features Tesla’s Supercharger automobile charging community and subscriptions paid for the “Full Self-Driving (supervised)” software program system, which might help with driving duties when monitored by a human.
However, as he has performed on many latest earnings calls, Musk maintained that Tesla’s long-term outlook relies upon not on something as prosaic as automotive gross sales or charging income, however on synthetic intelligence, humanoid robots and totally self-driving autos. Musk has repeatedly informed traders to organize for the corporate to pour large portions of cash into such next-generation applied sciences, which can make future quarters look much less rosy than this one.
“Tesla’s not alone on this,” Musk mentioned. “I feel you’ve got seen most, if not all, [of] actually the foremost know-how firms considerably rising their capital investments. And we will be doing the identical. I feel it’ll repay in a really large approach.”
The corporate is presently working a small variety of totally autonomous robotaxis in Texas, and has promised a large enlargement. And Tesla discontinued its luxurious Mannequin S and Mannequin X to release these manufacturing traces to make the humanoid robotic the corporate calls “Optimus.” On the earnings name, Musk mentioned Optimus will enter manufacturing this summer time and begin being helpful “outdoors Tesla” subsequent yr.
“As you’ve got heard me say just a few occasions, I feel Optimus can be our largest product,” Musk mentioned. “I stay satisfied of that conclusion.”
And traders appear to agree with him; Tesla’s sky-high inventory worth offers it a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, greater than 5 occasions bigger than Toyota, the world’s top-selling automaker.
On the afternoon of the earnings name, on the sunny rooftop of the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, Optimus was nowhere in sight. The robotic performed a starring function on the diner’s grand opening, and Tesla had just lately teased on Musk’s social media platform X that the robotic was “returning to work.” However on this Wednesday, the free popcorn on the diner was handed out the old school approach: by a human. When requested the place Optimus was, the staffer defined in long-suffering tones that the robots solely appeared for particular events.
For Jimmy Cho, a Tesla investor and fan visiting the diner on a visit to Los Angeles from Taiwan, Optimus’ absence was “a little bit bit disappointing.” However he is nonetheless all-in on Musk’s imaginative and prescient for the corporate, citing “the Optimus robotic and full-self driving and perhaps the Cybercab” for why he is invested within the firm.
His pal Allen Chiang, who was additionally a little bit let down to not see Optimus in motion, acknowledged that Musk’s timelines are notoriously unreliable. However finally, he says, every part Musk has promised “will come true.”
“I feel Tesla will change the world of human beings,” Chiang mentioned.
And it is that perception, greater than any quarter’s revenues, that has stored Tesla’s inventory sky-high for years.
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