Tesla Stock Trends Higher: What's Happening?

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares are trading higher Monday. The stock appears to be seeing continued momentum after the company reported strong third-quarter deliveries on Friday.

• Tesla shares are advancing steadily. What’s driving TSLA shares up?

Tesla’s Third-Quarter Deliveries Beat Analyst Estimates

HSBC analyst Michael Tyndall maintained a Reduce rating on Tesla and raised the price target to $157 from $125 after Tesla delivered about 487,000 vehicles in the third quarter. That total beat the Visible Alpha consensus by 7% and topped company estimates and HSBC’s own forecast by 5% each.

Year-over-year, deliveries slipped 2%. Tyndall called that a good result because buyers had pulled purchases forward ahead of the end of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits. Public registration and sales data had pointed to a much lower number, similar to the second quarter. Actual deliveries beat that projection by close to 80,000 units.

Tyndall also flagged production, which trailed deliveries. Output totaled about 464,000 vehicles, or 23,000 fewer than Tesla delivered. That missed the Visible Alpha consensus by 4.6% and HSBC’s forecast by 3.7%. Tyndall offered two possible readings. Tesla may expect its sales pace to cool, or summer shutdowns may have held production back.

Meanwhile, Baird analyst Ben Kallo reiterated an Outperform rating and kept the price target at $475 this week. Kallo also noted a beat as deliveries exceeded both Baird’s forecast and consensus, rising roughly 1% from the second quarter.

Most of the upside came from the Model 3 and Model Y, Kallo said. Every other model declined and missed consensus. Kallo noted that Tesla stopped Model S and Model X production in the second quarter.

Tesla’s Energy Storage Deployments Miss Estimates But Keep Growing

Unlike vehicle deliveries, Tesla’s energy storage deployments fell short of estimates. Tesla deployed 13.7 gigawatt-hours in the quarter, Tyndall said. The figure missed the Visible Alpha consensus by 19% and HSBC’s forecast by 24%. Tyndall described it as the latest in a string of disappointments this year.

For the first nine months, deployments are up 11% from a year earlier. HSBC had originally forecast growth of 40%. Tyndall acknowledged Tesla’s point that deployments can swing from quarter to quarter. Still, Tyndall said the soft results contrast with strong growth HSBC sees across the rest of the energy storage market. As a result, HSBC lowered its 2026 deployment forecast.

Baird sounded more upbeat. Kallo acknowledged the consensus miss but pointed to roughly 10% annual growth in third-quarter deployments. Kallo described the energy business as a “bright spot” for Tesla’s profit and loss.

Tesla carries a consensus Buy rating with an average price forecast of $405.04, per Benzinga data.

TSLA Shares Are Rising

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were up 1.71% at $376.92 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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