Tesla shares jump on second-quarter report better than analysts feared

Shares of Tesla jumped more than 7% on Thursday, one day after the electric car maker released second-quarter results that were better than analysts feared.

Tesla reported Wednesday after the bell that its second-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $2.27, higher than the $1.81 expected, according to Refinitiv. While the company’s revenues grew by 42% on a year-over-year basis, automotive margins declined due to inflation and increased competition for electric-vehicle components.  

Some analysts said Tesla delivered a better outlook than expected, considering it faced production issues at its Berlin, Texas and Shanghai factories. Wall Street also looked favorably on Tesla’s move to sell 75% of its bitcoin holdings, which contributed $936 million to its cashflow during the quarter and helped it avoid a writedown on the value of that investment, as bitcoin faced its worst quarter in more than a decade.

“In a nutshell, the quarter was better than feared with healthy guidance for 2H by Musk & Co. that look achievable with no margin for error,” wrote analysts Dan Ives and John Katsingris from Wedbush.

They maintained their outperform rating and $1,000 price target on the company, with analysts from RBC and Jefferies setting targets of $1,100 and $1,050.

Still, some analysts said they don’t expect any major movement in Tesla’s share price in the near term.

“Hard to see what really rocks the boat on consensus on Tesla until the company posts a more significant margin miss and/or we see evidence of new growth/margin profile from the ramp of Berlin and Austin,” Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley wrote in a Wednesday note.

Tesla has not yet released its quarterly financial filing so analysts were responding to a shareholder deck and remarks by executives.

Jesse Pound, Michael Bloom and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.