Tesla Q2 profit misses badly; adjusted EPS $0.33 vs estimate $0.51

Published Jul 22, 08:36 PM UTC

Tesla reported Q2 2026 earnings that beat revenue expectations but badly missed profit estimates, with adjusted EPS of 33 cents versus the 51 cents forecast, despite record revenue of $28.24 billion. The stock fell 3% in extended trading. The profit miss was driven by soaring costs, including stock-based compensation nearly doubling to $1.15 billion (largely Elon Musk's CEO Performance Award vesting), operating margin collapsing to 1.4% from 4.1%, and capital expenditures nearly tripling to $5.79 billion for AI and chip fab investments. Free cash flow turned negative at $1.09 billion. The article also notes that Musk took SpaceX public in a record IPO during the same period, which has since lost over 40% of its value. Tesla shares are down 11% in July and 17% year-to-date, tracking SpaceX's decline.