Tesla shares plunge following Elon Musk's downbeat Cybertruck outlook

Elon Musk standing in front of a Cybertruck.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla’s stock price slumped 5% in premarket trading Thursday after a so-so earnings report.
The carmaker’s posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue numbers.
CEO Elon Musk’s warnings about higher interest rates and delayed production of the Cybertruck sparked the sell-off.

Tesla’s stock price fell in Thursday’s premarket as CEO Elon Musk’s warnings about higher interest rates and delayed production of the Cybertruck sparked a sell-off.

Shares had fallen 8% by midmorning – putting the carmaker on course for a $50 billion market capitalization wipeout at the opening bell, by Insider’s calculations.

The losses came after Tesla released its third-quarter earnings report late Wednesday.

The automaker posted adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.66, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74. It also fell short of Wall Street’s revenue forecasts.

Shares rose in after-hours trading but then fell into the red over the course of Tesla’s earnings call, where Musk warned that higher interest rates could chip away at the company’s future profits. The world’s richest man also tempered investors’ expectations about production of the Cybertruck.

“We dug our own grave with Cybertruck,” he told analysts. “It is going to require immense work to reach volume production and be cash flow positive at a price people can afford.”

Tesla looks on course to post a second straight day of steep losses, after shares fell just under 5% Wednesday.

But the carmaker has still enjoyed a stellar 2023, surging 97% year-to-date with investors piling into mega-cap Big Tech stocks. That rally has boosted its market capitalization by nearly $400 billion.