Episode summary
Tesla’s EV Sales Top Estimates With Car Business Stabilizing | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 27 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Craig Trudell, Poonam Goyal, Matthew Bloxham, Lindsay Dutch
Summary
Tesla’s latest quarter suggested its auto business is stabilizing even as investors increasingly focus on Elon Musk’s AI and robotics ambitions. The host and a guest said Tesla delivered better-than-expected third-quarter sales of 486,532 vehicles worldwide, with the stock up 5% on the day but still down about 17% year to date. The guest argued Tesla’s core car business still matters enormously for cash flow, even if the company now gets more attention for future products than for its current lineup.
The discussion also highlighted how Tesla’s competitive position has shifted. The guest said U.S. EV competition has eased somewhat as Ford and Stellantis have pulled back, but the China market is more intense and domestic manufacturers such as BYD and Geely have surpassed Tesla in key ways. The guest said China’s EV slowdown, together with weaker state incentives and property-market pressure, is rippling through the global auto industry.
The episode also covered Nike’s restructuring and margin repair, Anthropic’s possible IPO timing, and Mattel’s takeover interest. Across those segments, the recurring theme was that brands with strong products and clear strategy can still win consumers, even in a cautious spending environment.
Key takeaways
- Tesla’s third-quarter deliveries of 486,532 vehicles topped estimates, but the guest said the company is still in a holding pattern around its core auto business.
- The guest said Tesla’s energy storage business helps cash flow, but it remains a fraction of total revenue.
- Nike has started to improve North America and performance, but the analyst said China and Jordan remain weak and the turnaround will take more than 12 months.
- The analyst said Anthropic could try to go public by mid-November, with timing after Thanksgiving becoming harder for an IPO this year.
- The Mattel analyst said Authentic Brands may see Barbie and Hot Wheels as valuable assets, but the toy maker’s growth is slower than the broader industry.
- The Mattel analyst said the toy industry’s first half was strong, but growth is being driven mainly by trading cards, games and puzzles, and building sets.
Notable quotes
“they're still in the business of of making and selling cars. And uh it's also, you know, not a whole lot going on there in terms of, you know, dramatic moves”
“we've been seeing uh you know on the order of 20% you know month after month of of year-over-year decline and that's really substantial for for a car market the size uh of China”
“I think it's a combination of both. So Nike started to slow down before Elliot Hill had come into the equation”
“the toy industry actually had its best first half in six years. the US, you know, dollar sales were up 17%, globally up 14%”
How the episode opens
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Let's talk a little Tesla. It's been a while since we talked about Tesla. It's almost like it's fallen a little bit out of the zeitgeist, as Tom Keane would say.
Maybe it's because it's been eclipsed by, if you want to talk about Elon Musk, you talk about SpaceX. But Tesla delivered some better than expected um cars during the most recent period. Stocks up 5% today, but it's down about 17% year to date.
Uh so they reported better than expected sales for the third quarter, delivering 486,500 vehicles worldwide. Craig Trudeell, Global Autos editor. It's it's front and center for him uh at Bloomberg News.
He joins us live here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. Craig, um so they did had a pretty good quarter in terms of deliveries. There used to be a time when that was the number everybody really hung on here.
What's going on at Tesla these days? Yeah, it's it it uh is difficult to cover because it's sort of it feels like Groundhog Day a little bit where uh this is a company where people increasingly care less about the you know here and now business and care much more about uh you know the future and you know can Elon sort of make good on all of uh this hype that he's built for you know humanoid robots and uh the AI business. Uh in the meantime, you know, they're still in the business of of making and selling cars.
And uh it's also, you know, not a whole lot going on there in terms of, you know, dramatic moves, at least in the last couple of quarters.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- tesla deliveries
- ev sales estimates
- nike earnings restructuring
- anthropic ipo
- mattel takeover
Companies and tickers mentioned
- TSLA
- NKE
- MAT
- ABG
- Tesla Inc.
- Nike Inc.
- Anthropic PBC
- Mattel Inc.
- Authentic Brands Group
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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