Can Tesla Post Strong Earnings?

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 21, 6:45AM EDT

Can Tesla Post Strong Earnings? — © Tesla ASM Lineup of Vehicles (CC BY 2.0) by Steve Jurvetson

24/7 Wall St. Insights

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) is about to announce its latest quarterly results.
The stock could use a boost after the underwhelming robotaxi unveiling.
Investors will be watching Cybertruck sales and sales in China.
Also: Dividend legends to hold forever.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) announces earnings later this week. With its stock still down 4% this year, it must outperform expectations.

The average analyst forecast is for earnings of $0.58 per share. Last year, the figure was $0.66. Based on its September production figures, deliveries appear to be increasing. Whether that helps earnings is too early to tell. If so, Wall Street might have some positive news to bring back the kind of share buying Tesla had enjoyed for years until recently.

Tesla’s single most significant problem recently is that its robotaxi introduction was a disappointment. Investors thought the presentation was long on hype and short on specifics. Another large question is whether Cybertruck sales have been strong. Early results are mixed. Elon Musk may be able to make the case that it is accelerating.

Tesla may also claim advances in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market. In September, its sales there rose 19% year over year, making China the world’s largest EV market by a significant margin.

As of late September, the 54 analysts covering Tesla had a wide range of opinions. Five rated it a Strong Buy. Another eight rated it as Underperform or Sell. However, their median price target for the stock was $210, and the stock trades at $220. There’s not much optimism there.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.