Tesla is still selling a considerable number of cars, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to earn the same amount of money from these sales.
The car manufacturer led by Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that its revenue in the third quarter decreased by 56% year-on-year to $718 million, falling short of Wall Street's forecast of $746.3 million; however, sales were roughly unchanged at $28.05 billion.
Tesla stated that the pressure on profits mainly stems from higher operating expenses related to its investment in artificial intelligence, Musk's preference for “SI”/“Super Intelligence”, as well as other research and development projects. Declining regulatory compliance income and weaker gross margins in its energy storage business also contributed to the decline in profitability, while lower vehicle prices affected revenue.
However, not all the news is bad for Tesla's profits. The company still remains profitable, and earnings per share exceeded expectations. Tesla reported that adjusted earnings per share were 48 cents, which is higher than the 44 cents that analysts generally anticipated.
The new quarter has already triggered some fluctuations.
The story of Tesla continues to unfold in real time, and since the fourth quarter of October, the company has been quite busy this month.
On Tuesday, during the financial report conference call of SpaceX, Musk stated that both Tesla and SpaceX have established committees to study the possibility of a potential merger. Both companies are led by Musk, who holds billions of dollars in stock in each of them.
Expectations surrounding this potential mega-merger have been on the rise for most of 2026, and have further intensified since the listing of SpaceX. Musk stated that he himself has not joined any of these committees and that describing the merger as a fait accompli would be "exaggerated."
