This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, sharply exceeding Wall Street’s modest expectations of 396,466 vehicles. The result marked a 25% increase from a year earlier, suggesting Tesla’s core EV business may be regaining momentum even as the global plug-in car market grows more slowly.
Tesla’s delivery figure still trailed BYD, which retook the global lead with 557,090 fully electric car sales. CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson said the stronger-than-expected result was likely driven mainly by China and Europe, while Tesla shares fell as much as 3.5% in New York trading after initially gaining, following a four-day rally of more than 13%.
Investors may now be looking beyond Tesla’s vehicle deliveries and toward Elon Musk’s broader growth story around AI, autonomy and robotics. Tesla plans to spend more than $25 billion this year, roughly three times last year’s level, as Musk invests in Optimus humanoid robots and autonomous Cybercabs. The company’s energy business also bounced back, deploying 13.5 gigawatt hours of storage products last quarter, up 53% from the first three months of the year.