Tesla’s (TSLA) big first-quarter earnings report looms Tuesday after the bell, with questions swirling over CEO Elon Musk’s return from Washington, D.C., and the fate of the company’s cheaper EV. The stock is down nearly 44% so far this year.
Tesla’s Q1 report comes with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) threateningly close to bear market territory and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) clearly in it. Trump’s tariff war is fueling broad-based selling and fears of a global economic slowdown. His auto sector tariffs of 25% on foreign imports have automakers like Tesla in a bind.
Read more about Tesla’s stock moves and today’s market action.
Tesla is expected to report Q1 revenue of $21.43 billion, per Bloomberg estimates, just slightly higher than the $21.3 billion reported a year ago. From a profitability standpoint, the Street is expecting adjusted EPS of $0.44, translating to adjusted net income of $1.57 billion, slightly higher than the $1.54 billion posted last year.
At close: April 21 at 4:00:01 PM EDT
The big concern for Tesla’s bread-and-butter auto business is demand. Earlier in April, Tesla reported Q1 deliveries of 336,681 units versus 390,342 estimated, per Bloomberg consensus, making it the worst quarter for deliveries since the second quarter of 2022.
This comes as rival automakers saw huge sales gains as consumers pushed up purchases to avoid tariffs, which began on April 2. Tesla’s main rival overseas, BYD, has been eating into Tesla’s market share for some time now.
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump’s tariffs
Demand concerns led to falling sales across a number of key regions for Tesla. Earlier in April, Tesla registration data in key European regions fell in March, another sign that sales are continuing to slide as Tesla’s brand has also taken a hit due to the right-wing political activities of CEO Elon Musk.
Musk’s closeness to President Trump and embrace of right-wing politicians in Europe has seen Musk — and Tesla’s brand — suffer. Protests both in the US and abroad at Tesla showrooms are growing, as are acts of vandalism on Tesla EVs.
“Musk needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a report to clients on Sunday, calling it a “Code Red situation.”
Ives added: “Anyone that thinks the brand damage Musk has inflicted is not a real thing, spend some time speaking to car buyers in the US, Europe, and Asia. You will think differently after those discussions.”
Ives maintained his Tesla Outperform rating but dropped his price target to $315 from $550, a nearly 43% haircut.
