On July 23, 2024, after the market closed, Tesla announced its Q2 2024 results, reporting lower earnings-per-share (“EPS”) and operating income than anticipated. Specifically, EPS came in at $0.52 vs. $0.62 consensus and $0.91 a year ago and, while operating margin was reported at 6.3% of sales to improve from last quarter’s mark of 5.5%, this figure landed below last year’s mark of 9.6%. In addition, although Tesla promised a “fleet” of robotaxis and was optimistic regarding the Company’s autonomous driving system, market analysts reported that investors focused more on the Company’s Q2 EPS miss, disappointing operating margins and free cash flow lines, and slower 2024 growth forecast.
Following this news, Tesla’s stock price dropped over 12% on July 24, 2024.