TMTPost --  Tesla Inc.’ s shares tumbled 12.3% Wednesday, wiping out almost $100 billion in stock market value. The stocks suffered their worst daily decline since September 2020 after quarterly earnings miss intensified worries about the electric vehicle (EV) heavyweight’s profitability.

Credit：Tesla

Tesla reported late Tuesday mixed results for the quarter ended June 30. Revenue that quarter rose 2% year-over-year (YoY) to $25.5 billion, beating analysts’ estimated $24.63 billion, while operating income plunged 33% YoY to $1.605 billion, much worse than the Wall Street projection of $1.81 billion. Non GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52, representing a 43% YoY decrease, also fell short of analysts expected $0.60.

Tesla’s bread and butter EV business hasn’t managed to turn around amid ongoing price war. Automotive revenue in the second quarter fell 7% YoY to $19.88 billion. While the total gross profit edged up 1% YoY to $4.58 billion, the gross margin lowered to 18%, down from 18.2% a year ago. Automotive gross margin excluding the regulatory credits from April to June dropped to 14.6%, trailing analysts’ estimates of 16.29%. That was the lowest automotive margin in more than five years, highlighting Tesla’s profit was materially squeezed as the company ramps up input in artificial intelligence (AI) and aggressively cuts prices and launches promotions across the globe, especially in its largest overseas market China, amid the slowdown of the EV industry.  

Tesla China extended its five-year, zero-interest loan offer by a month to August 31, according to the updated official website on Tuesday. Any shoppers who place their orders from July 1 to August 31 can apply for such limited-time loan offer. The incentive continues to be applicable to some variants of new Model 3 and Model Y units made by Shanghai Gigafactory, including the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD) and Long-Range and the Model RWD and Long-Range.

The auto loan offer was one of Tesla’s latest promotional moves it took in China after a wide range of price cuts three months ago.  Tesla slashed prices of its models in the United States, China, Germany and other major markets in April. In China, Tesla trimmed all models on sale in the country with a reduction of RMB14,000. The newly revamped Model 3, which is the first major upgrade since the midsize EV was first revealed in 2016, is now priced at RMB231,900 (US$32,000) , down from RMB245,900 previously--back to its launch price last September. The Model Y RWD, Long-Range and Performance variants now cost RMB249,900, RMB290,900 and RMB354,900, respectively, with the former down to the cheapest its been in at least five years. The Model S Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive (AWD) and Plaid variants were discounted to RMB684,900 and RMB814,900, respectively. The price of the Model Dual Motor AWD fell to RMB724,900, and the Plaid variant to RMB824,900.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stressed Tesla’s commitment to the humanoid robbot and the self-driving Robotaxi at an earnings conference, but he confirmed an report earlier this month that Tesla delayed release of Robotaxi by two months to October. The Wall Street analysts axed its expectation on Tesla after the disappointed quarterly results. “Investors were generally confused and lacked conviction into Tesla’s Q2 print,” Barclays analyst Dan Levy wrote in a note. “We believe the key takeaway from Tesla’s Q2 print, a miss driven by auto margins, is that for now, the focus shifts back to fundamentals.”  

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, CFRA and New Street Research downgraded their recommendations on Tesla. The biggest challenge for the stock in the near term is the lack of any strong catalyst that can push it higher, according to analysts. Some of them noted there’s a growing risk that even the October Robotaxi event may not live up to the high expectations built into the stock.