Tesla stock slips as mixed quarter keeps AI costs in focus

Tesla reported a mixed third quarter on Wednesday, October 21, with weaker automotive and energy revenue offset by growth in services and other activities. CNBC reported that the company exceeded analysts' expectations for adjusted earnings and revenue, while profitability remained under pressure.

Automotive weakness meets service growth

Revenue from Tesla's automotive business fell 3 percent year over year to USD 20.56 billion, while energy revenue declined 16 percent to USD 2.88 billion. Services and other revenue rose 33 percent to USD 4.61 billion, providing a counterweight to the pressure in the core vehicle business.

Net income attributable to common shareholders fell 29 percent year over year to USD 787 million. CNBC attributed the decline in profitability to increased spending on Optimus humanoid robots and other artificial intelligence initiatives. Capital expenditure more than doubled year over year to USD 3.73 billion, while free cash flow fell 62 percent to USD 1.53 billion.

FSD remains a strategic catalyst

Tesla said active Full Self-Driving subscriptions increased 67 percent from a year earlier to 1.74 million. The company also said adoption of FSD Supervised rose by 20 percentage points from the second quarter. Tesla plans to give some customer vehicles access to its forthcoming FSD Unsupervised system around the second quarter of 2027, according to CNBC.

At 4:40 p.m. CEST on Friday, October 30, 2026, the real-time quote of Tesla stock was EUR 357.95 on Lang & Schwarz, 1.38 percent below the Xetra close of Thursday, October 29. That compares with EUR 365.08 in the previous ad-hoc-news.de report published on October 29 at 5:55 p.m.; the stock was therefore 1.95 percent lower than in that report.

The S&P 500 remains the relevant broader market benchmark for Tesla's US-listed stock: current S&P 500 market reports.

For more company-specific developments, see more news and analyses on Tesla stock.

Source: CNBC.