LIVE BLOG: Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2024 earnings call

Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q2 2024 earnings call comes on the heels of the company’s Q2 2024 Update Letter, which was released after the closing bell on Wednesday, July 23, 2024. 

Tesla posted total revenues of $25.5 billion, with automotive revenues of $19.878 billion in the second quarter. The company also posted non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.52 and GAAP EPS of $0.42 for Q2. Tesla posted $1.6 billion GAAP operating income after restructuring charges of $600 million in the second quarter as well.

Q2 2024 Earnings Call starts in ~1.5h https://t.co/DnhM6ay60N

— Tesla (@Tesla) July 23, 2024

The following are live updates from Tesla’s Q2 2024 earnings call. I will be updating this article in real-time, so please keep refreshing the page to view the latest updates on this story. The first entry starts at the bottom of the page. 

17:30 CDT: That’s a wrap! Thanks for reading and following along with our Live Blog! ‘Til next quarter!

17:27 CDT: Potential Trump Presidency could end IRA, and would Tesla have negative implications if IRA is ended, an analyst asks. Musk mulls the question and says “It would have some impact, but it would be devastation to our competitors.” Musk believes getting rid of the IRA would have minimal impact on Tesla. He continues to hound the point that Tesla’s value is highly reliant on autonomy and says if an investor does not believe the company will solve self-driving, they should sell their stock.

17:18 CDT: Musk breaks down the ride-sharing platform, highlighting the advantages: the vehicle could be used 24/7, and could be a full-time member of the vehicle fleet or a part-time contributor. Vehicle owner will share revenues with Tesla directly.

Rollout questions from Pierre Ferragu of New Street Research are met with confusion from Musk. “Every car will be capable,” as Ferragu asked if the early rollout of Robotaxi would be geofenced and small-scale.

17:14 CDT: Musk says GM canceled its self-driving, pedal-less, wheel-less vehicle was canceled because “it’s not up to par.” He says GM blamed regulators instead of being transparent about their self-driving efforts. “GM can’t make it work.”

17:12 CDT: Musk says Supervised FSD will come to China, Europe, “and other countries” upon the release of v12.6. It will submit regulatory approval when those versions are rolled out

17:04 CDT: Alex Potter of Piper Sandler asks about FSD licensing — “Can you elaborate on the mechanics of how this would work?” Potter asks if it would be “plug-and-play” or would OEMs have to adopt Tesla platform.

Musk confirms hardware would have to be upgraded: cameras and gateway with cellular and Wi-Fi capability would be required. “…it will be several years before we see this in volume,” Musk says. The CEO also adds that disclosure would depend on who the OEM licensing FSD is, and a volume minimum would be required.

16:59 CDT: Ben Kallo of Baird asks about the automotive revenue balance and how it will be impacted by AI. Musk says Optimus will likely be more of a contributor to company revenue than all other parts of the business combined. Musk believes 22 million units of humanoid robots will be demanded by customers worldwide, with Optimus leading the way. “We have all the ingredients; I think we are unique in having all of the ingredients [when it comes to humanoid robots],” Musk said. He also mentions ARK Invest’s analysis when factoring in AI and robotics.

Gigafactory Mexico is “paused” until after the election. Tesla will ramp up production at its existing factories.

16:58 CDT: Musk says he doesn’t want to give any details about future vehicles after an analyst question because it could cannibalize near-term sales.

16:53 CDT: Musk says Grok will make its way into Tesla vehicles at some point.

16:52 CDT: Does Tesla feel it is cheating people from the joy of owning a Tesla because it doesn’t advertise? Simply put, no. More people in Q1, 66% of deliveries were to people who never had a Tesla before

16:51 CDT: Optimus accessories question gets a chuckle from Musk and Co. No real update given by the team.

16:49 CDT: Musk says NVIDIA’s execution is “impressive” as he talks about Dojo. More effort on Dojo is needed to ensure training capability needed, Musk says. “We do see a path to being competitive with NVIDIA with Dojo,” he adds. “We kind of have no choice because the demand for NVIDIA is so high; it’s obviously their obligation to raise the price of GPUs to whatever the market will bear…We’ve really got to make Dojo work, and we will.”

16:47 CDT: A question regarding the 4680 production cell ramp yields Tesla to reveal 51 percent more cell production in Q2 than Q1. More than 1400 Cybertrucks worth of 4680 cells each week. The first validation Cybertruck with the dry-cathode process has been built. Tesla says it’s on track to launch dry-cathode in Q4, lowering costs for widespread cell production.

16:42 CDT – Tesla’s CFO takes the stage. Like Musk, he also extended his thanks to Tesla’s team for pulling through in the second quarter. The executive highlighted that Tesla is offering extremely competitive finance rates worldwide, so the best time to buy a Tesla is right now.

He also emphasized the fact that Tesla’s vehicles are the most American cars on the market today. “We pride ourselves as a company with the most American-made cars.” He also noted that “Our focus is to provide the most compelling products at the most competitve price.”

16:39 CDT – The CEO noted that the Tesla Robotaxi is now planned for an unveiling on October 20. The delay in the vehicle’s unveiling is due to changes that he asked for the vehicle.

As for Optimus, Tesla expects several thousands of humanoid robots produced and performing useful tasks at the company’s facilities by next year. Optimus Version 1 will start limited production by next year, Musk estimated.

Musk also highlighted that Tesla Energy is growing at an incredible pace. Tesla Energy may also double or triple production with both the company’s Lathrop and Shanghai Megafactories.

16:35 CDT – Elon Musk takes the stage for his opening remarks. He acknowledges that there is now more competition in EV market. He also noted that competitors have rolled out discounts on EV prices, which has been a bit challenging for Tesla — but not in the long term.

Despite these challenges, Musk thanked the Tesla team for achieving record revenues this past quarter. The CEO noted that Tesla would not get too deep into its product road map in the earnings call, though he did note that a more affordable model unveiling is expected in the first half of 2025.

Musk also highlighted that FSD is seeing a lot of progress, with version 12.5 having 5x the parameters of 12.4. He encourages Tesla owners to try out FSD. “Full Self-Driving will be a massive demand driver,” Musk said.

16:30 CDT – Tesla’s Q2 2024 earnings call begins — on time(!) The company’s new IR Head takes the stage. Elon Musk and other Tesla executives are present.

16:26 CDT – And the music starts. Here we go! Or rather, the actual waiting starts now.

16:20 CDT – Tesla stock is down 4.27% as of writing. This is not a small drop by any means, though it is more tempered than the drops from previous quarters. As per Barron’s, Tesla shares have moved an average of 11% over the past four quarterly reports.

16:15 CDT – Hello, everyone, and welcome to our live blog of Tesla’s second quarter 2024 earnings call. Tesla’s second quarter results are quite mixed, with the company beating estimates for revenue but falling short of expectations in earnings per share. Tesla also reported $1.6 billion GAAP operating income in Q2 after restructuring charges of $600 million. Elon Musk and Tesla’s other executives would likely provide some context on the company’s Q2 results in the upcoming earnings call.

Here’s the livestream of Tesla’s Q2 2024 earnings call.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

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