Elon Musk attends “Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk” during the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – Day 3 in Cannes, France, on June 19, 2024.
Mark Piasecki | Getty Images
Tesla The stock rose enough on Friday to erase its loss for the year and push its gains for the week to 27%.
Shares of the electric carmaker closed Friday at $251.55. They ended last year at $248.48, then continued to fall to $138.80 in April.
The latest rally was sparked by a better-than-expected second-quarter deliveries report on Tuesday. Although deliveries fell 4.8% from a year earlier, the decline was less severe than in the first quarter, giving investors reason to be optimistic ahead of the second half.
In April, Tesla shares fell to a 52-week low after a series of troubling developments. Sales in its core auto business fell in the first quarter, the company slashed its business by laying off a large number of workers, and there were reports that Tesla had scrapped plans to soon produce a low-cost family car at its Texas factory.
Tesla is scheduled to report its second-quarter financial results after the close of trading on July 23. Gross margins on the vehicles are likely to be the focus of attention.
Since last year, Tesla has been offering extensive discounts and incentives to lure customers to its aging lineup of electric vehicles, including the popular entry-level Model 3 sedans, Model Y SUVs, and the more expensive flagship Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.
In late 2023, Tesla began selling its angular Cybertruck. The Tesla Cybertruck social media account X posted on Thursday that the truck had become the best-selling all-electric truck in the United States in the second quarter.
Ford announced sales of its all-electric F-150 Lightning, which reached 7,902 units in the second quarter and 15,645 units through June of this year.
Tesla did not respond to CNBC's request for more information.
Beyond the upcoming earnings report, Cantor Fitzgerald analysts wrote in a note Tuesday that they expect a marketing event — Tesla’s Robotaxi Day — early next month to be a catalyst for the stock.
“Tesla previously revealed its plans to launch a robotaxi (or CyberCab), which the company plans to unveil on August 8,” they wrote. “While we don’t expect this segment to launch before 2027, we expect it to be a meaningful business segment for the company in the long term.”
However, Cantor Fitzgerald expects Tesla to deliver fewer vehicles this year than last year. The firm has a $230 price target on Tesla stock and recommends a buy on the stock.
Despite Tesla’s recovery, it’s still lagging the broader market this year. The Nasdaq is up 22% in 2024, and the S&P 500 is up 17%. Tesla shares are now up 1.2%.
A recent Axios-Harris poll found that the company is suffering from a deteriorating brand, at least in part due to Musk’s “actions” and “political rhetoric.” A New York Times poll this week also suggested that Musk’s “polarizing statements” and “political activism” are driving some “left-leaning consumers” away from the company.
Tesla is also years behind in delivering the software that would make its current vehicles self-driving. Musk announced on Oct. 19, 2016, that all Tesla cars produced at the time had the hardware to make them self-driving. But in late June, he said that more hardware and sensors were on the way to enable that capability.
WATCH: Tesla deliveries subject to 'overanalysis'
