Mücahithan Avcıoğlu
23 April 2026•Update: 23 April 2026
Tesla reported first-quarter earnings above analyst estimates Wednesday, as the electric vehicle maker said it continued investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI), robotaxi services and battery production infrastructure.
The company said in a statement that net income per share came in at $0.41 in the January-March period, above analyst expectations.
Total revenue also rose 16% to $22.39 billion from $19.34 billion a year earlier.
Tesla posted operating income of $941 million and net income of $477 million in the first quarter. Its total gross margin improved to 21.1% from 16.3% a year earlier.
In its First Quarter 2026 Update, Tesla said it made “meaningful progress” in building the infrastructure and AI software underpinning its robotaxi and future robotics businesses while ramping additional AI compute, battery and battery-material factories and preparing production lines for Megapack 3, Cybercab and the Tesla Semi.
The company said it launched unsupervised robotaxi rides in Dallas and Houston in April, received approval for its supervised full self-driving (FSD) system in the Netherlands, and began ramping lithium, cathode and LFP production. It added that preparations for its first large-scale Optimus factory will begin in the second quarter.
Tesla said first-quarter vehicle deliveries totaled 358,023 units, up 6% year-on-year, while production increased 13% to 408,386 vehicles.
The company also deployed 8.8 gigawatt-hours of energy storage during the quarter and ended March with $44.74 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
Tesla shares climbed around 4% in after-hours trading Wednesday.
Over the past year, Tesla has faced mounting pressure as competitors rolled out cheaper, more technologically advanced electric vehicles, challenging the company’s aging model lineup. The automaker has also grappled with consumer backlash linked to CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration as well as his polarizing political comments and support for far-right figures.
Tesla shares have lagged behind all other megacap stocks this year, falling 14% through Wednesday’s close. At the same time, its core automotive business remains under strain from intensifying global competition, including from Chinese rivals BYD and Xiaomi.
