Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.
Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters
Tesla reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday, but revenue for the year dropped 3%, the first time on record the company has recorded an annual decline. The stock rose 3% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company did, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 50 cents, adjusted vs. 45 cents, estimated
- Revenue: $24.90 billion vs $24.79 billion, estimated
Auto sales have been sluggish in recent quarters for Tesla, as the company faces an onslaught of competition in various parts of the world, most notably from BYD in China.
Revenue in the fourth quarter slid 3% from $25.7 billion a year earlier, with the auto segment falling 11%. Full-year revenue fell to $94.8 billion from $97.7 billion in 2024, the company said in an earnings release. The decline was caused, in part, by a “decrease in vehicle deliveries, and “lower regulatory credit revenue,” Tesla said.
Earlier this month, Tesla reported a 16% plunge in vehicle deliveries for the fourth quarter and 8.6% decline for the full year. Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla, but are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder communications.
While Tesla’s core business has been struggling, CEO Elon Musk has tried to focus investor attention elsewhere. In particular, he’s touted the company’s nascent Robotaxi business and its Optimus humanoid robots, which have yet to hit the market.
In 2025, Tesla launched a Robotaxi-branded ride-hailing app, and the company has been running a pilot service in Austin, Texas. Last week, Tesla executives said they had taken human safety supervisors out of a handful of cars in the Austin fleet to conduct driverless passenger rides.
The company said in its investor deck that it plans to have coverage in seven additional U.S. markets in the first half of this year. Those cities are Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas.
Tesla said that it has begun “tooling” in advance of production of its forthcoming Cybercab, which is previously billed as a two-seat, “purpose-built” driverless car that will not include a steering wheel or pedals.
Net income in the quarter plunged 61% to $840 million, or 24 cents per share, from $2.1 billion, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier, as operating expenses jumped 39%.
Revenue in the energy generation and storage business increased 25% to $3.84 billion from $2.73 billion a year ago. In the services and other segment, revenue rose 18% to $3.37 billion from $2.64 billion.
Tesla said that on Jan. 16, it entered into an agreement to invest about $2 billion in Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, “as part of their recent publicly-disclosed financing round.” Earlier this month, the OpenAI competitor said it raised $20 billion, exceeding its prior target of $15 billion, with Nvidia and Cisco participating in the round.
The xAI investment, along with a partnership with the company, is “intended to enhance Tesla’s ability to develop and deploy AI products and services into the physical world at scale,” Tesla said.
Tesla’s call with analysts is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.
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WATCH: Robotaxi will be major focus of Tesla’s earnings call
