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Tesla Q3 Net Income Falls 43% as Revenue Holds Steady

lite News Desk 2 min read

Tesla’s third-quarter 2026 GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders fell 43% from a year earlier to $787 million, while revenue remained essentially unchanged, according to the company’s unaudited financial update. Tesla published the results on its investor-relations website on October 21, 2026.

The year-earlier quarter generated $1.373 billion in GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders. On a separate, non-GAAP basis, Tesla reported net income of $1.697 billion for the latest quarter, a year-over-year decline of 4%.

Operating results also declined from the third quarter of 2025. According to the update, operating expenses reached $4.776 billion, an increase of 39%, and operating income fell 56% to $718 million. The operating margin stood at 2.6%, below the year-earlier figure of 5.8% but above the 1.4% recorded in the second quarter of 2026.

At the gross-profit level, Tesla reported $5.494 billion for the quarter. Its GAAP gross margin reached 19.6%, compared with 16.8% in the preceding quarter and 18.0% a year earlier. The annual improvement amounted to 1.6 percentage points.

Total revenue came to $28.046 billion, against $28.095 billion in the third quarter of 2025. The company’s services and other category recorded a 33% annual increase, bringing revenue to $4.605 billion. Automotive revenue declined 3% to $20.560 billion, while revenue from energy generation and storage fell 16% to $2.881 billion.

Cash-flow figures in the update showed $6.263 billion generated by operating activities and capital expenditures of $4.732 billion. Tesla calculates free cash flow by subtracting capital expenditures from operating cash flow. On that basis, the company reported positive free cash flow of $1.531 billion for the third quarter, compared with negative $1.092 billion in the second quarter of 2026.

At the close of the third quarter, Tesla’s combined holdings of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $45.447 billion. According to the company’s update, that balance was 9% higher than at the same point in 2025.

* This article is based on publicly available information at the time of writing.

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