Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles between July and September, beating the average forecast from 24 analysts by about 24,600. Tesla stock rose 5.5% to $373.55 by mid-morning Friday, according to Yahoo Finance.
The factory did not keep pace, however. Tesla built 464,391 vehicles, so about 22,000 of the cars it handed to buyers were made in earlier quarters.
What Drove Tesla’s Delivery Beat
Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla’s mass-market sedan and SUV, did nearly all the work. They reached 478,237 deliveries, against 450,712 in Tesla’s own survey of analyst forecasts.
Tesla’s other models, a group that includes the Cybertruck, fell short. Deliveries came to 8,295, below the 11,285 expected and roughly half the 15,933 a year earlier.
Total deliveries slipped about 2% from more than 497,000 a year ago. That quarter was inflated by buyers rushing to claim a $7,500 US electric vehicle tax credit before it expired on Sept. 30, 2025.
Compared with the April to June quarter, deliveries rose 1.3%. Europe helped. Registrations there were up about two-thirds through August, Reuters reported.
Why Tesla Stock Now Hinges on October 21 Earnings
This is the second straight quarter Tesla sold more cars than it made. In the April to June quarter, it built 451,758 vehicles and delivered 480,126.
Tesla’s release warns that delivery counts are only two measures of performance. Profit also depends on the price each car sold for, costs, and currency swings.
Energy storage, Tesla’s battery business for homes and power grids, also missed. It installed 13.7 gigawatt hours (GWh), up from 12.5 GWh a year earlier but below the 15.9 GWh forecast.
The stock entered Friday down about 21% this year, despite Ron Baron’s bullish case and attention on Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi launch.
Analysts remain split on the stock. Of 25 who set 12-month price targets over the past three months, 12 rate Tesla a buy, 11 a hold, and two a sell.
Their average target of $391.40 sits about 4.6% above the last price of $374.18. Individual forecasts range from $24.86 to $505.
Tesla reports full results after the market closes on October. 21. Those figures will show profit margins and selling prices, which the delivery count does not reveal.
The year-end stakes are also clear. Tesla needs at least 311,448 deliveries in the final quarter to avoid a third straight annual sales decline, according to Reuters.
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