Tesla reports Q2 earnings miss but beats on revenue; cap-ex spending seen at $25 billion for the year
Pras Subramanian· Senior Reporter
Updated Thu, July 23, 2026 at 4:05 a.m. GMT+5:30
4 min read
- TSLA
Tesla (TSLA) reported mixed second quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations after the closing bell on Wednesday. However, its cash burn rate was less than expected. Investors may be looking for more on its physical AI build-outs
Tesla reported Q2 revenue of $28.24 versus $26.32 billion, per Bloomberg consensus, up 26% from a year ago. Tesla posted adjusted EPS of $0.33 versus $0.50 estimated. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $3.273 billion versus $4.0 billion expected
Tesla stock fell more than 3% in after-hours trading
Tesla said Optimus production remains on track for later this year. “The initial Optimus builds will be used in our Optimus Academy for training data collection and further functionality development,” the company said in a statement, but did not indicate when the latest version of Optimus would be revealed
Tesla also confirmed that its Robotaxi rollout hit seven major metro areas. “We expanded the unsupervised operation area in Austin and launched unsupervised rides in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa in July,” the company said. “Preparation for expansion of our Robotaxi service to additional U.S. metros continued, including testing, permitting and first responder training.”
“We’ll continue to scale very rapidly with Robotaxi — more than 10% growth in miles driven per week,” but safety considerations will limit its growth, CEO Elon Musk said on the earnings call
Full-self driving active subscriptions climbed to 1.48 million, up 56% from a year ago, Tesla said
Tesla’s free cash flow burn continued in the quarter, though less than expected, coming in at -$1.09 billion versus -$3.64 billion estimated, with analysts expecting full-year capital expenditures to hit $25.16 billion. Musk added that 2026 would be a “massive cap-ex” years, and CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed Tesla Capex would be “more than $25 billion” this year
Tesla is spending aggressively on capital expenditures across several fronts at once: Optimus humanoid robot production, AI data center build-out, and Cybercab production ramp-up. Those are the bets that justify Tesla’s rich valuation, but they are also consuming cash right as the auto business is improving
Tesla and Musk’s other company, SpaceX, collaborate on certain projects like Terafab and AI initiatives, which has led to speculation the two companies may merge. When asked about it, Musk said while there was “overlap” across the two companies, “we can’t talk about combining companies on an earnings call. It’s got to be done with the appropriate process.”
