Tesla earnings preview: Will it be hard hats or party hats after the Q2 report from the EV giant?

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is lined up to report second quarter earnings in one week. The electric vehicle maker’s report is forecast to show a double-digit decline in both revenue and earnings per share amid slowing EV adoption rates, declining sales in key markets, and some brand backlash against Elon Musk’s political interventions.

While the reported Q2 numbers may be underwhelming, the update from Elon Musk on the robotaxi rollout, new product timelines, and AI initiatives could be the main story.

With its Q1 earnings report, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) attributed weak deliveries to production disruption associated with the Model Y changeover. For Q2, Tesla (TSLA) already announced that it delivered 384,122 vehicles during the quarter and produced 410,244 vehicles..

The tally was an improvement from the 336,681 vehicles the Austin-based company delivered in Q1, but well below the 443,956 vehicles for the same quarter a year ago. The quarterly deliveries record for Tesla (TSLA) is 495,570 units, achieved in Q4 of 2024.

During the earnings conference call, Grok is expected to make an appearance. Elon Musk has said the Optimus V3 humanoid robot is now equipped with the generative AI chatbot. Recent demo videos show continued advancements in robot balance, manipulation, autonomous learning from human actions, and voice-driven task management. Musk is also likely to talk up the upside of Grok being integrated into Tesla (TSLA) vehicles as part of a software update.

Tesla (TSLA) is expected to report revenue of $22.4 billion and EPS of $0.41 with its Q2 earnings report. Notably, the last 24 EPS revisions from analysts have been on the downward side. Options trading implies a share price swing of 8% for TSLA after the report drops.

On Seeking Alpha, analyst Robin Hannoun issued a Strong Buy rating on Tesla (TSLA) and recommended a structured options strategy via a long straddle to exploit the frequently observed rise in pre-earnings announcement volatility.