Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) Q3 net profit plunges 43%; vehicle deliveries fall 2% year-over-year to 486,500 units

After the U.S. market close on Wednesday, Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) released its third-quarter 2026 financial results, with shares rising more than 1% at one point in after-hours trading. Data showed that the company's quarterly revenue was $28.046 billion, essentially flat compared with $28.095 billion in the same period last year; GAAP net profit was $787 million, down 43% year-over-year; diluted earnings per share were $0.22, down 44% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net profit was $1.697 billion, down 4% year-over-year, and adjusted earnings per share were $0.48, down 4% year-over-year. In terms of profitability, Tesla, Inc.'s third-quarter operating profit was $718 million, a sharp decline of 56% year-over-year, and its operating margin fell to 2.6% from 5.8% in the same period last year. Operating expenses rose 39% year-over-year to $4.776 billion, mainly due to increased spending on Super Intelligence and other R&D projects, stock-based compensation expenses, and general and administrative expenses. However, the company's overall gross margin rose 1.6 percentage points year-over-year to 19.6%. By business segment, automotive revenue was $20.560 billion, down 3% year-over-year; energy generation and storage revenue was $2.881 billion, down 16% year-over-year, partly affected by tariff-related customer refunds; services and other revenue rose 33% year-over-year to $4.605 billion. In the third quarter, Tesla, Inc.'s vehicle deliveries were 486,532 units, down 2% year-over-year, while production was 464,391 units, up 4% year-over-year. Energy storage product deployments reached 13.7 GWh, up 10% year-over-year. Active Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscriptions reached 1.74 million, up 67% year-over-year. In the autonomous driving business, Tesla, Inc. said Cybercab began providing Robotaxi ride services in Austin, United States, on September 3. As of the end of the quarter, cumulative unsupervised driving miles for Robotaxi approached 2 million, an increase of about eight times from the previous quarter. In terms of cash flow, the company's third-quarter operating cash flow was $6.263 billion, and free cash flow was $1.531 billion, down 62% year-over-year. As of the end of the quarter, total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments reached $45.447 billion, an increase of about $1.9 billion from the previous quarter. Looking ahead, Tesla, Inc. said it will continue to advance Cybercab, the Optimus humanoid Siasun Robot&Automation, and expansion of the energy storage business, and plans to increase Super Intelligence training compute to 400 megawatts by the end of 2026. The company expects that future hardware business profit will gradually be supported by profit growth from Super Intelligence, software, and fleet operations businesses.