Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 3.1% – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded down 3.1% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $373.71 and last traded at $374.58. Approximately 51,240,897 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 50,606,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $386.47.

Tesla News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tesla beat third-quarter adjusted earnings expectations, reporting $0.48 per share versus the $0.45 consensus estimate, and generated approximately $1.5 billion in positive free cash flow. Tesla Surpasses Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Paid Full Self-Driving adoption exceeded 75% of North American deliveries, with subscriptions increasing 67% year over year. Investors view FSD, robotaxis, Optimus robots, and Megapack energy storage as potential long-term growth engines. Tesla’s FSD Subscriptions Surge
• Positive Sentiment: European sales reportedly strengthened, while Tesla is expanding its Cybercab robotaxi program beyond Austin and developing AI-based mapping from fleet data. These developments support the company’s autonomy narrative, although commercialization remains early. Tesla Europe Sales Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Elon Musk called a SpaceX-Tesla merger a “good idea,” and both companies reportedly formed special committees to study a combination. Potential benefits include shared work in AI, chips, robotics, connectivity, and energy, but no transaction is certain. SpaceX-Tesla Merger Chatter
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain divided: Morgan Stanley raised its target to $410 with an equal-weight rating, while RBC maintained an outperform rating and a $480 target. Bullish forecasts depend heavily on successful autonomy and robotics execution.
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue was essentially flat year over year at about $28 billion, automotive revenue fell 3%, energy-generation and storage revenue declined 16%, and GAAP operating income dropped 56%. Refunds and other factors also clouded the reported margin improvement. Tesla Automotive and Energy Revenue Results
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla reduced its 2026 capital-expenditure outlook from more than $25 billion to approximately $20 billion after third-quarter spending trailed expectations. Investors worry the pullback could delay AI, robotics, and robotaxi ambitions. Tesla Spending Pullback
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla will refund Cybertruck deposits in Australia and New Zealand, signaling reduced regional ambitions for the troubled vehicle. Regulatory scrutiny of the Cybercab and delays in unsupervised FSD add further execution risk.
• Negative Sentiment: The broader Nasdaq sell-off, renewed doubts about AI spending returns, higher oil prices, and geopolitical tensions have pressured high-valuation technology stocks, including TSLA.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Tesla from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $266.00 to $420.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $408.61.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $364.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $377.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 409.04, a PEG ratio of 23.78 and a beta of 1.92.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 3.03% and a net margin of 3.11%. The business had revenue of $28.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.13, for a total value of $938,498.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,353,296.36. This trade represents a 9.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 19.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Friedenthal Financial lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 75 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Harborfront Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Montgomery Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc is an electric vehicle and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003, the company designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y and Cybertruck. Tesla also develops vehicle software, driver-assistance features and related services intended to support the operation and ownership of its vehicles.

Beyond automobiles, Tesla produces energy storage products for residential, commercial and utility-scale applications, including the Powerwall and Megapack.