Tesla released its third-quarter 2026 results after the market closed on Wednesday, October 21. We covered the questions investors wanted answered ahead of the report. Here’s what Tesla actually posted.
The headline numbers
- Revenue: $28.05 billion, flat with $28.1 billion a year earlier and in line with the roughly $28.06 billion analysts expected.
- Non-GAAP EPS: $0.48, ahead of the $0.45 consensus but down from $0.50 a year ago.
- GAAP net income: $787 million ($0.22 per share), down 43% year over year.
- Total gross margin: 19.6%, up from 18.0% a year ago and 16.8% in Q2.
- Operating income: $718 million, down 56% year over year, for a 2.6% operating margin.
- Free cash flow: $1.53 billion, after negative $1.09 billion in Q2. Operating cash flow was $6.3 billion.
- Cash and investments: about $45.4 billion at quarter end.
Margins up, profit down
Automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits rose to 18.1%, from 16.3% in Q2 and 15.4% a year earlier. Regulatory credit revenue kept shrinking, to $113 million from $417 million a year ago. The profit squeeze came from spending: operating expenses rose 39% to $4.78 billion, with research and development up 69% to $2.76 billion as Tesla funds what it now calls Super Intelligence, Optimus and the Cybercab. GAAP results also included a $288 million unrealized gain on Tesla’s bitcoin and a $142 million unrealized loss on its SpaceX stake.
Vehicles, energy and services
Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles, down about 2% year over year, and said battery supply, not demand, limited volumes. It reported its largest passenger-vehicle backlog in four years and produced its 10 millionth vehicle. Energy storage deployments rose to 13.7 GWh, but energy revenue fell 16% to $2.88 billion, which Tesla partly attributes to tariff-related customer refunds. Megafactory Texas began production with a planned 50 GWh of capacity. Services and other revenue grew 33% to $4.61 billion.
FSD and Robotaxi
Active FSD (Supervised) subscriptions reached 1.74 million, up 67%, a count that includes upfront purchases. More than three-quarters of new North American deliveries came with paid FSD, almost 20 points higher than in Q2. Tesla began Robotaxi rides with Cybercabs in Austin on September 3, and cumulative unsupervised miles grew eightfold during the quarter to nearly 2 million.
Why it matters
The quarter shows Tesla’s core car business stabilizing on margins while the company pours money into autonomy, robots and chips. For the outlook management gave on the call, see our companion post on Cybercab, Optimus and capex plans.
Sources: Tesla Q3 2026 Update (SEC filing) and Electrek.