Tesla Analyst Raises Revenues Estimates Ahead Of Q3 Results

Benzinga · 1d ago

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares climbed in early trading on Tuesday, ahead of its third-quarter earnings release on Wednesday.

Cantor Fitzgerald raised its revenue estimate for the quarter to about $27.9 billion, up from its prior expectation of about $24.3 billion.

The Tesla Analyst: Analyst Andres Sheppard reaffirmed an Overweight rating and price target of $485.

The Tesla Thesis: The company delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, beating consensus of 461,974 units, while producing 464,391 vehicles, missing expectations of 486,761, Sheppard said in the note.

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The analyst noted the following product and technology updates that will be the focus during the earnings call:

  • Roadster: Tesla announced three variants, namely Performance, Thrust, and Rocket, with a $5,000 reservation fee plus $245,000 due in 10 days, with minimal impact on the bottom line.
  • Optimus: Construction on Humanoid robot line 1 started in Fremont, with an annual capacity of 1 million bots. Line 2 construction began in Texas, with a long-term target of 10 million per year. Deliveries should begin in the back half of 2027.
  • FSD & Robotaxis: Active FSD subscribers reached 1.48 million in the second quarter of 2026. Robotaxis operate in seven metro cities, with expansions planned for Phoenix and Las Vegas. Commercial Cybercabs in Austin are less than 190 active units.
  • Tesla Semi: Customer deliveries have begun, and the Nevada facility is targeting 1,000 trucks per week.
  • Terafab: This project is "an ambitious joint advanced chip manufacturing facility" in Texas, aiming to build chips for applications including autonomous driving, humanoids, AI, and orbital data centers.

For the third quarter results, Sheppard noted Cantor’s expectations versus consensus estimates:

  • Revenue of around $27.9 billion, versus $28.3 billion
  • Gross margin of 17.1%, versus ~18.0%  
  • Adjusted EBITDA of about $3.4 billion, versus around $3.6 billion
  • Non-GAAP diluted earnings of 47 cents per share, higher than consensus of 45 cents per share

He also raised the 2026 deliveries estimate to ~1.76 million from ~1.71 million, and the revenue estimate to ~$105.8 billion from the previous forecast of ~$102.2 billion.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares rose 1.47% to $373.46 at the time of publication on Tuesday.

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