Tesla  (TSLA)  shares stumbled badly until this week amid falling deliveries, price cuts, and concern that Chief Executive Elon Musk was distracted from his work at the electric vehicle titan.

Tesla stock dropped 43% from the beginning of the year through April 22. But, since then, its shares have rebounded 16%.

And what has propelled them higher? Slivers of good news amid a weak first-quarter earnings report.

As for the bad news, Tesla's net income slid nearly 55% from a year earlier to $1.13 billion, and revenue fell 8.7% to $21.3 billion.

On the plus side, Musk promised to introduce a less expensive electric vehicle as early as late 2024, offsetting worries about its lackluster earnings and diminishing growth prospects for its existing lineup.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s views

"I think we'll have higher sales this year than last year," Musk told investors, even as the company reiterated its forecast for "notably lower" vehicle deliveries for the current year.

"We've updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models ahead [from the] previously mentioned start of production in the second half of 2025. So, we expect it to be more like the early 2025, if not late this year," Musk said.

Wall Street analysts offered mixed reactions to the earnings report. Alliance Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi argues that the "widespread deployment of [Tesla's Full Self-Driving] is five to 10 years away.”

Related: Analysts scramble to reset Tesla price targets as stock soars after earnings

He said it's by no means a "slam dunk" that the company can grow sales this year, given the weak EV-demand environment.

It may also be a tough ask given that Musk has been cutting prices on Model 3 and Model Y, hoping to spark demand.

Bank of America analyst John Murphy said Musk addressed "key concerns" on the conference call. And he managed to "revitalize the growth narrative" with both his bullish delivery forecast and his wider artificial intelligence and robotics ambitions, Murphy said.

Musk suggested it could begin selling Optimus robots in late 2025. He recently cut the price for its latest full-service driving software (FSD) to $99 per month and plans a Robotaxi event in August to discuss Tesla Cybercab.

Cathie Wood’s recent Tesla stock buys pay off

Famed money manager Cathie Wood is an unabashed admirer of Musk and his goal for a transformation to clean-energy cars from internal combustion engine, or ICE, vehicles.

Earlier this month, she reiterated her $2,000 forecast for Tesla shares (they traded at $166 on April 25). She initiated that goal a year earlier. So, it’s no surprise that Tesla is the biggest holding in Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF  (ARKK) .