Tesla (TSLA) stock rallies after better-than-expected deliveries report

Tesla shares rose about 5.5% on Wednesday morning, after jumping 10% in the previous session following the release of second-quarter vehicle production and deliveries figures that beat analyst expectations.

Tesla’s total deliveries hit 443,956 vehicles in the second quarter, with total production at 410,831 vehicles over the period. Analysts had expected that Tesla deliveries — the closest approximation of sales disclosed by the automaker — to reach 439,000 in the three-month stretch ended on June 30, according to a consensus of estimates compiled by FactSet StreetAccount.

Tesla does not break down numbers for individual car models or specific regions.

In a Tuesday note, Citi analysts said they anticipate a “favorable share price reaction” following the release.

“From here, the focus will turn to Tesla’s Q2 auto gross margins to gauge the price vs. cost equation,” they added, also flagging the importance of any further company updates on future product launches.

The Tuesday delivery report comes after the company in April posted a decline of 8.5% in first-quarter deliveries to 386,810 — the first annual drop since 2020.

Some of Tesla’s Chinese rivals, Geely owned Zeekr and Nio, reported record deliveries in June. The growth prospects of the electric vehicle sector in the world’s second-largest economy came into focus last month, when the European Union announced higher tariffs of up to 38% on Chinese EVs which it found gain “heavily from unfair subsidies.” Tesla, which has a gigafactory in Shanghai, may “receive an individually calculated duty rate at the definitive stage,” following a “substantiated request,” the European Commission said at the time.

Back in May, the U.S. administration of Joe Biden had likewise quadrupled tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles, from 25% to 100%, in an attempt to prevent discounted Chinese products from flooding the market.

Tesla also said it deployed 9.4 gigawatt hours of energy storage products in the second quarter, in what it described as its highest quarterly performance to date.

“Tesla sold ~15GWh in 2023, out of a ~100GWh global annual sale market. In Q2/24 alone, Tesla sold 9.4GWh of battery storage globally. In the past, management has said that these sales tend to be lumpy, but that Q2 level alone, represents almost 10% of 2023’s entire market global annual sale market,” RBC analysts said in a Tuesday note.

“The implication here is that Tesla is either gaining market share or the entire market is growing dramatically in 2024. More likely it is a combination of both,” they added.

Tesla is scheduled to post its second-quarter financial results on July 23 and is expected to unveil its design for a robotaxi next month.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Ganesh Rao contributed to this report.