Activists have smeared the facade of the Tesla store in Berlin-Reinickendorf with blue paint in March (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
Investors have a lot of questions about Tesla’s timelines and tariffs.
Rani Molla
4/21/25 1:34PM
Tesla reports its first-quarter earnings after the bell tomorrow and investors have a lot of questions about the future of the company, which has been among the worst-performing in the S&P 500 this year.
The FactSet analyst consensus estimates call for earnings per share of $0.41 and revenue of $21.345 billion, up slightly from the $21.301 Tesla reported in Q1 of last year. Both of those estimates have been trending downward since the start of the year, as delivery numbers released earlier this month came in way worse than expected and as the brand’s popularity sank to new lows. Meanwhile, the stock is down more than 40% this year and more than 7% just today.
As Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has written, Tesla is going to have to make a lot of major changes —including CEO Elon Musk stepping down from his position at the Department of Government Efficiency — to turn things around.
Based on a survey of the most upvoted questions shareholders posted on the company’s investor relations website, Tesla investors are very concerned with the company’s timelines —something it’s been notoriously bad about — for promised products like affordable models, full self-driving, and the robotaxi. They’re also worried about how tariffs and political brand damage might affect the company’s future.
Here are some of the top questions on investors’ minds, listed by the number of upvotes on the Tesla investor relations site, and what we know so far about those topics:
Question: Is Tesla still on track for releasing “more affordable models” this year?
What we know: Reuters reported over the weekend that Tesla’s lower-cost, stripped-down Model Y, which was supposed to roll out in the first half of this year, is delayed “at least several months.”
Question: When will unsupervised full self-driving be available for personal use on personally owned cars?
What we know: Musk has been promising unsupervised FSD “next year” for at least the last five years. Musk in January said the technology was “limited simply by regulatory issues, not technical capability.”
“I’m very confident we have released unsupervised Full Self-Driving, fully autonomous Teslas in Austin and several other cities in America by the end of this year, as probably everywhere in America next year, at everywhere in North America at least.”
For now it seems that full self-driving will be confined to a Tesla-owned fleet of vehicles in Austin, not to personal vehicles. Musk has said this would start in June.
Question: How is Tesla positioning itself to flexibly adapt to global economic risks in the form of tariffs?
What we know: Because Tesla assembles its US-sold cars in the US, it’s insulated compared to other carmakers that finish their cars outside the US. That said, Tesla is heavily reliant on parts shipped from abroad, so its prices and bottom line could certainly be negatively affected by auto parts tariffs that go into effect next month; Musk and other Tesla execs have said as much.
Recently, Tesla suspended shipments of Cybercab and Semi parts from China because the tariffs were so onerous.
Question: Is the Robotaxi still on track for this year?
What we know: As far as we know, Tesla is still on track to roll out paid Cybercab rides in Austin in June (Google’s Waymo beat Tesla on that count), but we’ll believe it when we see it.
Recently, The Information reported that internal analysis from Tesla suggests the self-driving taxis might never be profitable.
Question: Did Tesla experience any meaningful changes in order inflow rate in Q1 relating to all the rumors of “brand damage”?
What we know: Tesla’s sales in Q1 saw the biggest drop ever and many analysts said brand damage related to Musk’s role in the government as well as the ensuing protests were at least partly to blame. Tesla bull Ives said brand damage from DOGE could create “15%-20% permanent demand destruction.” Indeed, surveys from YouGov found that while most Americans were aware of Tesla, they wouldn’t buy one — people interested in EVs would be much more likely to go for a Toyota or Honda.
Regarding DOGE, Musk himself said, “It’s costing me a lot to be in this job.”
And Tesla’s Cybertruck seems like it’s been especially difficult to sell. Just take a look at all of them stashed outside Tesla’s Texas production plant.
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Elon Musk keeps shifting what he thinks the value of Tesla is. Today, it’s “sustainable abundance” made possible by “affordable AI-powered robots.”
Rani Molla3h
Jon Keegan
7h
The EU’s Digital Markets Act was designed to bring a battering ram to the Big Tech platforms considered “gatekeepers” — defined as “large digital platforms providing so called core platform services, such as for example online search engines, app stores, messenger services.”
The law went into force in November of 2022 (and became applicable in May of 2023), and since then it has not resulted in any fines... until today.
Apple was hit with a €500 million ($567 million) fine, and Meta received a €200 million fine ($227 million).
“Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the Commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively.”
According to the EU, Apple’s violation of the DMA was that it failed to allow third-party app stores on iOS, and it should allow iPhone apps to be downloaded from the open web rather than exclusively through the App Store, which is the current setup.
Meta’s violation was related to its “pay or consent” policy in the EU, which gave users a choice to either consent to sharing personal data for free access to its platforms, or pay to use the platforms with no tracking. The DMA ruling said that Meta needs to offer a third option: free use with limited data sharing.
The companies have 60 days to comply with the orders or additional fines will be levied. The companies are reportedly planning on appealing the rulings.
The law went into force in November of 2022 (and became applicable in May of 2023), and since then it has not resulted in any fines... until today.
Apple was hit with a €500 million ($567 million) fine, and Meta received a €200 million fine ($227 million).
“Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the Commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively.”
According to the EU, Apple’s violation of the DMA was that it failed to allow third-party app stores on iOS, and it should allow iPhone apps to be downloaded from the open web rather than exclusively through the App Store, which is the current setup.
Meta’s violation was related to its “pay or consent” policy in the EU, which gave users a choice to either consent to sharing personal data for free access to its platforms, or pay to use the platforms with no tracking. The DMA ruling said that Meta needs to offer a third option: free use with limited data sharing.
The companies have 60 days to comply with the orders or additional fines will be levied. The companies are reportedly planning on appealing the rulings.
It’s expected “end of June or July” and “in many other cities in the US by the end of this year.”
Rani Molla7h
Rani Molla
23h
“Starting probably next month in May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors at the start of the company’s Q1 earnings call. “I’ll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so, and as long as it is useful, but starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla.” The stock is trading up 4% after-hours despite falling far short of analyst expectations.
Rani Molla
4/22/25
Tesla fell short of analysts’ already diminished expectations for the first quarter, reporting earnings per share of $0.27, compared with Bloomberg’s consensus estimate of $0.47, and revenue of $19.3 billion, compared with an expected $22.1 billion.
Analysts had been significantly cutting back their expectations for the electric vehicle company’s revenue and earnings over the past month, since Tesla released disappointing delivery numbers, selling 50,000 fewer vehicles in the first quarter than analysts had expected or than it had a year earlier.
Still, the company said plans for its robotaxi launch and less expensive vehicles remain on track. The stock was little changed after-hours.
Despite CEO Elon Musk repeatedly referring to the company as an AI and robotics firm, Tesla makes the vast majority of its revenue — 72% in Q1 — from vehicles, so car sales are heavily tied to the company’s financial performance. Tesla has been offering heavy discounts in order to move inventory and lowering its average selling price, so the impact on Tesla’s bottom line wasn’t expected to look pretty.
Tesla last quarter promised a “return to growth in 2025” as far as vehicle sales. In 2024, Tesla delivered a disappointing 1.8 million vehicles. Its latest announcement no longer mentions that return to growth.
The earnings report follows disappointing full-year earnings for 2024, when Tesla’s annual net profit declined by more than 50% year on year.
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