Elon Musk attends the session ‘Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk’ during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 – Day Three on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France.
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The latest rally was fueled by a better-than-expected second-quarter deliveries report on Tuesday. While deliveries were still down 4.8% from a year earlier, the drop was less steep than the first quarter’s decline and gave investors reason for optimism heading into the second half.
In April, Tesla shares hit a 52-week low after a series of troubling developments. Sales in its core automotive sector fell in the first quarter, the company was downsized by large-scale layoffs and there were reports that Tesla had scrapped plans to soon produce a low-cost family car at its Texas factory.
Tesla is expected to report second-quarter financial results after the market opens on July 23, with automotive gross margins likely to dominate.
Since last year, Tesla has offered extensive discounts and incentives to attract customers to its older lineup of electric cars, including the popular entry-level Model 3 sedans, Model Y crossover utility vehicles and the more expensive flagship Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.
Tesla began selling its boxy Cybertruck in late 2023. A Tesla Cybertruck account on social network X posted on Thursday that the truck had become the best-selling all-electric pickup in the U.S. in the second quarter.
Ford reported sales of 7,902 units of its all-electric model, the F-150 Lightning, in the second quarter, and 15,645 through June of this year.
Tesla did not respond to a request for further information.
In addition to the upcoming earnings report, analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald wrote in a note Tuesday that they expect a marketing event — Tesla’s Robotaxi Day — early next month to be a catalyst for the stock.
“TSLA previously announced plans for a Robotaxi (or Cybercab), which the company plans to unveil on August 8,” they wrote. “While we don’t expect this segment to launch before 2027, we do expect it to be a meaningful business segment for the company in the long term.”
Still, Cantor Fitzgerald expects Tesla to deliver fewer cars this year than last year. The firm has a price target of $230 for Tesla and recommends buying the stock.
While Tesla has recovered, it is lagging the broader market for the year. The Nasdaq is up 22% for 2024 and the S&P 500 is up 17%. Tesla is now up 1.2%.
A recent Axios-Harris poll found that the company is facing a deterioration in its brand, at least in part due to Musk’s “antics” and “political tirades.” A New York Times investigation published this week also said that Musk’s “polarizing statements” and “political activities” are driving away some “left-leaning consumers.”
And Tesla is still years behind in delivering software that can turn its existing vehicles into self-driving cars. Musk announced on Oct. 19, 2016, that all Tesla cars produced at the time had the hardware needed to make them self-driving. But in late June, he said that a hardware and sensor setup was still on the way to make that capability possible.
WATCH: Tesla deliveries are ‘overanalyzed’