Tesla shares slide as margin pressures mount despite record sales

Tesla shares fell 3.7 percent in premarket trading on Thursday after the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker extended its streak of profit misses to a fourth quarter, even as sales hit record highs. Rising costs and declining revenue from highly profitable regulatory credits strained Tesla's margins, underscoring that even the EV maker is feeling the cost pressures rippling through the auto industry as President Donald Trump overhauls U.S. policy. Despite the near-term margin squeeze, Tesla's hefty valuation still rests on investor expectations that future growth will come from robotics and artificial intelligence, even though vehicle sales continue to generate most of its revenue. In the third quarter, the company's costs rose sharply, including more than $400 million in tariffs on auto parts due to Trump's trade policies, said CFO Vaibhav Taneja. "The margin compression is the real concern. Higher operating expenses, increased tariffs and lower regulatory credit revenue all hit at once," said Farhan Badami, market analyst at eToro. "Tesla is navigating near-term headwinds by cutting coWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times