Tesla Slashes Capex to $20B as Operating Income Falls 56%
TSLA sits 25% above its 52-week low of $297.38.
Summary
Tesla cut full-year capex guidance to $20B from $25B, trimming its 2026 plan to roughly the same level while keeping AI, robotics and autonomy spending intact. Q3 revenue was $28.05B, flat year over year, and operating income fell 56% to $718M with automotive gross margin ex-credits at 18.1%. The quarter generated $6.26B of operating cash flow against $4.73B of capex, leaving $1.53B of free cash flow. On the demand side, Tesla says over 75% of North American Q3 deliveries included paid FSD at delivery and it now has 1.7M+ global paid FSD customers, though intro offers may affect those figures. The capex cut is the number that matters: it pulls back spending after the AI-driven margin squeeze that drove the July selloff, but it also trims the growth runway Musk has been selling. Cybercab deliveries to outside fleets are targeted for end of 2026 while NHTSA reviews whether the steering-wheel-free vehicle meets federal safety rules, and Musk expects EU FSD approval in months while seeking China clearance.
At the time of this announcement, TSLA was trading at $372.45 on NASDAQ in the Energy & Transportation sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.5T. The 52-week trading range was $297.38 to $498.83. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.