Tesla’s ‘Terrible’ Q4 Earnings Fail To Dissuade Investors as Elon Musk Promises ‘Epic’ Future

On Jan. 29 following the close of the markets, Tesla CEO Elon Musk helmed a Q4 2024 earnings call — one that Ars Technica editor Jonathan M. Gitlin described as delivering “terrible” results in a headline posted by the tech outlet.

Automotive revenues tumbled by 8% versus the equivalent quarter in 2023, dipping to $19.8 billion. Energy and storage revenues boomed by 113%, but the effect of this surge was muted due to the small impact it has on the company’s total fortunes, representing just $3 billion quarterly at this point in time.

Full-year net income trended downward to $8.4 billion, per Forbes, representing a decline of 23% versus 2023. Full-year revenue for 2024 was relatively healthy by comparison, ticking upward by 1% against the previous year to rest at a sum of $97.7 billion.

Musk Bullish Over Tesla’s Fortunes in the Near Future

Despite the lukewarm earnings report, Musk remained extremely optimistic about Tesla’s path forward in 2025 and beyond.

“I’m not saying it’s an easy path, but I see a path for Tesla being the most valuable company in the world by far,” Musk said during the earnings call.

“There is a path where Tesla is worth more than the next top five companies combined,” he added.

As Forbes underscored, this would require Tesla — with a current $1.3 trillion market cap — to reach over $15 trillion, which is what the current top five companies are worth in aggregate.

A great portion of Musk’s enthusiasm hinged not only around existing technologies and investments, but also around two upcoming products: the so-called Optimus robots and the launch of full self-driving (FSD) tech in its existing model lineup, to be followed by the Cybercab rollout.

Regarding the Optimus robots, Musk suggested a $10 trillion opportunity on the table, and speaking of the FSD rollout — which could come as early as June, per Quartz — the Tesla CEO spoke about the fulfillment of earlier promises.

“I know people have said, well, Elon is the ‘boy who cried wolf’ like several times,” Musk began. “I’m telling you, there’s a damn wolf this time, and you can drive it. In fact, it could drive you. It’s a self-driving wolf.”

“This is not some far-off mythical situation. It’s literally five, six months away,” Musk added. “While we’re stepping it — putting our toe in the water gently at first just to make sure everything is cool, our solution is a generalized AI solution.”

Investors Still Buying What Musk Is Selling on Tesla

Regardless of analyst disagreement over the contents of the earnings report, investors appeared to be unfazed.

As Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) reported, the stock climbed in price after-hours on Jan. 29 and also made gains on Jan. 30. As of 12:36 p.m. ET, Tesla shared had risen by 2.49% to a value of $398.80.

Analyst opinion was starkly divided, however. JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman could see no reason for the company’s continued market performance, as quoted by Forbes.

“The move higher in Tesla shares bore no relation whatsoever to the company’s financial performance in the quarter just completed or to its outlook for growth in the coming year,” wrote Brinkman. “[Tesla’s share price has] become completely divorced from the fundamentals.”

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, on the other hand, remained bullish on Tesla. Despite terming the earnings as disappointing, Jonas signaled that they didn’t really change the narrative surrounding the company.

“Tesla’s 4Q results are emblematic of a company in the transition from an automotive ‘pure play’ to a highly diversified play on AI and robotics,” Jonas stated, as cited by IBD. “While the journey may be volatile and nonlinear, we believe 2025 will be a year where investors will continue to appreciate and value these existing and nascent industries of embodied AI where we believe Tesla has established a material competitive advantage.”

For his part, Musk promised that 2025 was a year of laying the groundwork for an “epic 2026” and a “ridiculously good” 2027 and 2028.