Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded lower in early action on Thursday after seeing a decline in profit in Q3, despite a record number of deliveries. During the earnings conference call, Elon Musk once again highlighted the company’s AI, autonomy, and humanoid robot upside, while also pleading with investors to back his compensation package that could be worth a trillion dollars if broad targets are met.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) numbers were in line enough to keep consensus estimates roughly unchanged. Tesla (TSLA) was noted to be navigating a dignified exit from the steering-wheel-having auto business while maintaining a resilient free cash flow profile. Going forward, he noted that the company is tied to Elon Musk’s ability to “steal the fire” on autonomy in the face of competition from the Magnificent 7 and beyond.
Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan said the firm kept its Underweight rating in place due to the core business deteriorating and with robotaxi/Optimus seen as taking longer to scale than anticipated. “Little was discussed on the core auto biz, which saw surprisingly limited op leverage on growth,” advised Langan. “This is likely driven by pricing, tariffs & mix. All-in, we don’t see much to keep fueling the bull run,” he added.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives maintained his uber-bullish stance. He highlighted that Tesla (TSLA) made important incremental progress with its AI strategy, with its fleet drivers driving over 1.3 billion FSD miles in the quarter, which gives it an accumulated 6 billion FSD miles driven and a solid database to improve its FSD capabilities. “We continue to believe Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap in early 2026 in a bull case scenario and $3 trillion by the end of 2026 as the golden AI chapter takes hold at Tesla,” updated Ives.
Jefferies played it down the middle by reiterating a Hold rating on Tesla (TSLA). “The current auto business no longer drives valuation but continues (with storage and ZEV income) to generate more FCF than is now needed to fund future developments,” noted analyst Philippe Houchois.
On Seeking Alpha, the bears outnumbered the bulls in writing up post-earning assessments. Analyst Bill Maurer warned that Tesla (TSLA) shares remain at an extreme valuation, with weakness in short-term profitability potentially overhanging the stock in the near term. “The stock is just way too expensive, even if you consider it a part-tech company, given its very low margins,” he wrote.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were down 3.3% in premarket trading on Thursday.