Tesla reports second-quarter earnings on Tuesday and investors want a robotaxi update

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Tesla will report second-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday. The company's vehicle deliveries report on July 2 was better than analysts feared, but still represented a decline from the previous year. The earnings call on Tuesday will give investors a better understanding of what CEO Elon Musk and company are doing to return to growth after reporting the biggest revenue decline since 2012 during the first quarter. Some institutional investors will focus on the health of Tesla's automotive gross margins and the company's operating expenses after it implemented sweeping layoffs and offered price cuts and other incentives to drive EV sales. Retail investors who submitted questions via the Say Technologies platform ahead of time are hoping for answers about the company's delayed plan to unveil its CyberCab, a "dedicated robotaxi" and its progress on self-driving technology in general. According to LSEG, as of Monday, analysts were expecting Tesla to report 62 cents per share in adjusted earnings on revenue of $24.77 billion for the period ending June 30, 2024. Retail investors who submitted questions via the Say Technologies platform ahead of time are hoping for answers about the company's delayed plan to unveil its CyberCab, a "dedicated robotaxi" and its progress on self-driving technology. They're also seeking details about Tesla's near-term priorities; the outlook for its rapidly growing battery energy storage business; the status of a new factory it promised to build in Monterrey, Mexico; and more. In light of Musk's recent endorsement of former President Donald Trump, and the CEO becoming a Republican megadonor this presidential election cycle, Tesla shareholders also submitted political questions ahead of the call. One asked, "do you believe a Trump / Vance admin will support Tesla and EVs? How confident are you based on your conversations?" And another asked, "How can Elon Musk endorse/fund a party that denies climate change, yet at the same time Tesla's mission statement is derived directly to fight climate change?" Former president Trump has indicated that he would do away with subsidies and other federal programs that help buyers of, and producers of, fully electric vehicles specifically but not other automakers. Reuters reported last week that Musk's political and polarizing statements have "sparked concerns about Tesla's brand, especially in liberal states such as California, which accounts for 10% of the company's global deliveries." California Tesla registrations fell to 52,211 vehicles during the second quarter, according to data from the California New Car Dealers Association. Investors also submitted questions via Say Technologies about Tesla's progress developing humanoid robotics that the company aims to put to work in its factories. Musk claimed, during an annual shareholder meeting in June, that Tesla's Optimus robots will be the catalyst for lifting the company's market cap to an astronomical $25 trillion someday. Musk also called himself "pathologically optimistic" at that meeting.