Tesla (TSLA) Q3 2026 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Q3 revenue was $28.046B, essentially flat YoY, while operating income and net income attributable to common stockholders declined; gross margin improved.

• Vehicle demand exceeded production, with the largest passenger-vehicle backlog in four years; energy storage orders and demand also reached records.

• Investment accelerated across autonomy, robotics, AI, manufacturing and infrastructure as production began for Tesla Semi, Optimus and Megafactory Texas.

Financial highlights

• Revenue was $28.046B, flat YoY; automotive revenue fell 3% to $20.560B, energy generation and storage fell 16% to $2.881B, and services and other rose 33% to $4.605B.

• Gross profit was $5.494B, up 9% YoY, and GAAP gross margin was 19.6%, up 160 bps.

• Operating income fell 56% to $718M and operating margin fell 322 bps to 2.6%, as operating expenses rose 39% to $4.776B.

• GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders was $787M, down 43%; non-GAAP net income was $1.697B, down 4%.

• Operating cash flow was $6.263B, CapEx $4.732B and free cash flow $1.531B; cash and investments reached $45.447B.

Outlook and guidance

• FY2026 CapEx guidance was ~$20B; filings said it was expected to exceed $20B, with investment led by AI compute, data centers, manufacturing and R&D facilities.

• Vehicle production capacity is being expanded, with a target of 5M units annually by ~2030; factory utilization and cost, scale and service monetization remain priorities.

• Robotaxi is expected to become a significant revenue and profitability contributor in 2027; impact could be noticeable in Q2 and substantial by Q3 or Q4.

• Optimus customer deliveries are targeted around the end of next year; reaching 20K units per week is expected to take at least a year as design and production mature.

• Energy gross margins are expected to increase meaningfully as production ramps; Megapacks for 2027 were nearly sold out amid strong data-center demand.