Tesla stock ends the week down 15%, the worst performance of the year

Tesla shares dropped more than 15% over the last few days to close the week at $211.99 after CEO Elon Musk waxed pessimistic about macroeconomic issues on a third-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

It marks the worst week for Tesla stock of the year, although shares of the electric automaker are still up 96% year-to-date.

For the period ending Sept. 30, 2023, Tesla reported $23.35 billion in revenue and $1.85 billion in profits, a decline versus the prior quarter. Profits were lower than the same quarter last year, too.

On an earnings call to discuss the Q3 results CEO Elon Musk, who divides his time between Tesla, the social network X (formerly Twitter), defense contractor SpaceX, and startups xAI, Neuralink and The Boring Co., struck a deeply pessimistic note about the economy and emphasized that cost-cutting and price cuts would be essential for Tesla in coming quarters.

Musk also threw cold water on shareholders’ expectations for Tesla’s long-delayed Cybertruck, while declining to give details about a “robotaxi” and autonomous vehicle tech that the company has been working on and promising for years. The company is already lagging Cruise and Waymo in the U.S., and robotaxi developers including the ridehailing giant, Didi, in China.

In regards to the company’s deeply unconventional pickup, Musk went so far as to say, “We dug our own grave with Cybertruck” on the Q3 call. He also said he wanted to “temper expectations” for the vehicle, saying it’s a “great product,” but Tesla expects it will take a year to 18 months before the Cybertruck becomes a “positive cash flow contributor.”

“Demand is off the charts. We have over 1 million people who have reserved the car, so it’s not a demand issue,” Musk claimed. “But we have to make it, and we need to make it a price that people can afford, insanely difficult things.”

Tesla is planning an event to officially debut the Cybertruck on Nov. 30, but hasn’t yet disclosed the truck’s final specifications and pricing. It’s not…