It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Tesla (TSLA). Shares have added about 30.4% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Tesla due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.

Tesla Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates

Tesla posted reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents and rose from the year-ago figure of 66 cents. Total revenues of $25.18 billion lagged the consensus mark of $25.57 billion but rose 7.2% year over year.

Key Takeaways

Tesla delivered 462,890 cars (439,975 Model 3/Y and 22,915 other models) worldwide in the third quarter. Deliveries rose on a year-over-year basis for the first time this year. Third-quarter deliveries also rose 4.3% sequentially. The company produced 469,796 vehicles (443,668 Model 3/Y and 26,128 Model S/X) in the three months ended September.

Total automotive revenues of $20 billion were up 2% year over year but missed our estimate of $22.2 billion. The reported figure also included $739 million from the sale of regulatory credits for EVs, which surged 33.3% year over year. Automotive sales, excluding revenues from leasing and regulatory credits, totaled $18.8 billion, up from $18.5 billion in the year-ago quarter. Automotive gross profit reached $4 billion, with a margin of 20.3%, up from 18.7% recorded in the year-ago quarter, exceeding the 18.3% forecast.

Energy Generation and Storage revenues came in at $2.37 billion, higher than the year-ago quarter’s figure of $1.55 billion and topped our estimate of $2.16 billion. Energy storage deployments came in at 6.9 GWh, up from 4 GWh in the year-ago quarter.  Services and Other revenues were $2.79 billion, which increased 29% year over year. achieved a record gross margin of 30.5% in the quarter under review. Gross margin from Services and Other unit was 8.8%, higher than 6% generated in the third quarter of 2023.

Tesla exited third-quarter 2024 with $33.6 billion of cash/cash equivalents/investments of $33.6 billion, up $2.9 billion from the second-quarter level, thanks to the FCF boost. Long-term debt and finance leases, net of the current portion, totaled $5.4 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities amounted to $6.25 billion in third-quarter 2024. Capital expenditure totaled $3.5 billion. Free cash flow of $2.74 billion was up from $848 million and $1.34 billion generated in the corresponding year-ago quarter and the previous quarter, respectively.