Investors are bracing for another quarter of margin pressure in autos, even as Tesla’s storage business keeps posting record volumes.
Tesla (TSLA) reports fourth-quarter results after the close on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, setting up a key test of whether the company can stabilize profitability after a year marked by softer unit demand and heavier spending on AI and next-generation products.
The setup is mixed. Tesla said it delivered 418,227 vehicles in Q4 on production of 434,358, while energy storage deployments hit a quarterly record of 14.2 GWh. For full-year 2025, Tesla reported 1,636,129 deliveries and 46.7 GWh of storage deployments, underscoring how quickly the energy segment is scaling even as the automotive market matures.
Still, autos remain the profit engine—and the main investor concern. Tesla’s most recent reported quarter (Q3) showed how sensitive earnings have become to pricing, mix, and operating costs: revenue rose 12% year over year to $28.1 billion, but operating income fell 40% to $1.6 billion, leaving a 5.8% operating margin. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.39 (non-GAAP $0.50), while free cash flow surged to about $4.0 billion and cash and investments climbed to $41.6 billion.
The Q4 call is likely to center on three questions. First, whether Tesla can defend automotive gross margin as competition intensifies and incentives ebb in key markets. Second, whether operating expenses keep rising as the company pushes deeper into autonomy, robotaxi initiatives, and robotics. Third, whether energy storage—now a larger and faster-growing contributor—can consistently offset volatility in car profitability.
Tesla shares recently traded around $451.67, leaving investors highly sensitive to any signal that 2026 will bring a cleaner margin floor—or another round of price-led volume defense.
