Tesla profit falls despite record sales

ELON MUSK’S EV MAKER HIT BY US TARIFFS, LOST CREDITS AND AI INVESTMENTS

- KARA CARLSON

TESLA’S PROFIT PLUNGED despite a record quarter of vehicle sales, reflecting ongoing strains on the automotive business that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is shifting focus away from.

Musk spent much of Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call discussing ambitious but opaque initiatives, including humanoid robot and artificial intelligence programmes, and also pleaded with investors to back his trillion-dollar compensation package. But he offered few details about how Tesla will revive its core business selling electric vehicles after a 40% drop in operating profit.

“We're left with this lingering uncertainty regarding what the near-term growth drivers will be,” said Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.