Tesla Q1: EPS beats

Tesla reported adjusted earnings of 41 cents a share for the first quarter, beating Wall Street forecasts after a quarter clouded by delivery concerns. (assets-ir.tesla.com) Revenue rose to $22.39 billion in the quarter ended March 31, up about 16% from a year earlier, while adjusted net income reached $1.5 billion and free cash flow totaled $1.4 billion. (assets-ir.tesla.com) Yahoo Finance, citing Bloomberg consensus, said analysts had expected $22.08 billion in revenue and 35 cents in adjusted earnings per share, while Tesla posted a 21.7% gross margin against a 17.7% estimate. (finance.yahoo.com) The beat landed after months of questions about Tesla’s core car business, which has been under pressure from slower electric-vehicle demand growth, price competition, and investor focus on whether Robotaxi can become a real business. (cnbc.com) Tesla used its shareholder update to argue that 2026 now includes several parallel buildouts: more artificial-intelligence computing, new battery and battery-material factories, Megapack 3 lines, Cybercab preparation, and Tesla Semi production. (assets-ir.tesla.com) That spending is large enough to reshape the rest of the year. Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said on the earnings call that 2026 capital expenditures will be “over $25 billion” and that Tesla expects negative free cash flow for the rest of 2026. (finance.yahoo.com) Tesla also tied the quarter to its autonomous-driving push. In its update, the company said it received approval for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in the Netherlands in April and launched unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Dallas and Houston in April. (assets-ir.tesla.com) Yahoo Finance reported that Tesla said Robotaxi miles nearly doubled from the prior quarter, but also noted the company does not disclose how many vehicles are operating in each city. (finance.yahoo.com) Investors initially pushed the stock higher after the results, then pulled back after the spending outlook. Yahoo Finance said the shares turned lower in premarket trading on Thursday after the capital-expenditure guidance. (finance.yahoo.com) The quarter gave Tesla a cleaner profit story than many expected, but the company’s own forecast shifted the next test to whether heavier 2026 spending can turn Robotaxi, artificial intelligence chips, and new factories into growth fast enough to justify it. (assets-ir.tesla.com)