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.
More Tech
See all Tech
Rani Molla
16h
“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
17h
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.
Rani Molla
19h
Short sellers have made $11.5 billion in mark-to-market profits so far in Tesla’s terrible 2025, according to CNBC, citing S3 Partners. That’s more than double the $5.3 billion short sellers booked in all of 2024 on Tesla, whose stock is down about 40% this year and which reports earnings after the bell today. This year’s short-seller gains are an about-face from $12 billion in mark-to-market losses short sellers incurred in 2023 on the oft-shorted stock.
Rani Molla
22h
Slate Auto, the stealth electric vehicle company backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has recently been pretty loud about its ~$25,000 Tesla competitor. It’s apparently planted a number of concept versions of the new vehicle on California streets, including this one ridiculously wrapped in pink and blue spotted by The Autopian and advertising what appears to be a fake business for driving babies around until they fall asleep.
“It’s a marketing tactic that teases the secretive startup’s strategy to sell a ‘Transformer’-like vehicle,” according to TechCrunch, which uncovered the company last month. TechCrunch added that other versions of the truck look like a hatchback or a pickup truck.
The vehicle is expected to be formally unveiled at a launch event at Long Beach Airport on April 24.
EV publication Electrek called the move a “masterstroke of marketing,” since Tesla, which reports earnings today, scrapped plans for its long-awaited $25,000 vehicles. Now even lower-cost versions of existing models are expected to be delayed.
To us, this seems like just the latest volley in a battle of egos between billionaires.
“It’s a marketing tactic that teases the secretive startup’s strategy to sell a ‘Transformer’-like vehicle,” according to TechCrunch, which uncovered the company last month. TechCrunch added that other versions of the truck look like a hatchback or a pickup truck.
The vehicle is expected to be formally unveiled at a launch event at Long Beach Airport on April 24.
EV publication Electrek called the move a “masterstroke of marketing,” since Tesla, which reports earnings today, scrapped plans for its long-awaited $25,000 vehicles. Now even lower-cost versions of existing models are expected to be delayed.
To us, this seems like just the latest volley in a battle of egos between billionaires.
Latest Stories
Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
- Privacy Notice
- Disclosures
- Terms and Conditions
- Editorial Standards
- Masthead
- Your Privacy Choices
- Advertising Disclaimers
©
2025
Sherwood Media, LLC
