Tesla’s stock plummets due to narrow margins and concerns surrounding the Cybertruck

Shares of electric automaker Tesla plummeted by over 7% on Thursday as investors became disillusioned with unclear remarks from CEO Elon Musk and other executives regarding the company’s new vehicle, the Cybertruck, and a planned robotaxi-ready car.

If this trend continues, it will mark the worst day for Tesla stock in the past three months.

Musk also cautioned that while the company aims to deliver 1.8 million vehicles this year, Tesla’s Q3 production may decrease slightly due to necessary factory upgrades and summer shutdowns.

Analysts also expressed concerns about Tesla’s margin “headwinds,” with the company reporting its lowest result in at least the last five quarters at 9.6%.

“We believe there could be continued margin headwinds in the near future if Tesla lowers prices to drive higher volumes,” noted Goldman Sachs’ Mark Delaney in a recent report.

Although Tesla stock has rebounded slightly from its overnight lows, it remains below Wednesday’s closing price of $291.26. In its latest earnings report, Tesla exceeded expectations with revenue of $24.93 billion and adjusted earnings of 91 cents per share for the quarter ending June 30, 2023.

Earlier this month, Tesla reported a total of 466,140 vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, providing the closest approximation of sales publicly disclosed by the company. However, Musk did not specify the exact delivery volumes for the new Cybertruck, simply stating on the earnings call that it will be produced in high volume next year, with an undisclosed number to be delivered in 2023.

In its earnings presentation, Tesla confirmed that Cybertruck “factory tooling” is on schedule but the company is currently only producing “release candidate” builds.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Michael Bloom contributed to this report.