- Fitch rated Tesla BBB with a stable outlook, the company's first investment-grade rating from the agency, citing its EV market position, $43.5 billion of cash and short-term investments at the end of Q2, and an AI and hardware expansion strategy.
- Tesla guides to 2026 capital expenditures above $25 billion, with H1 spend of $8.28 billion versus $3.89 billion a year earlier; only a portion of that total is AI-related.
- H1 operating cash flow of $8.63 billion minus $8.28 billion of capex leaves about $350 million of free cash flow, tightening the funding picture as spending accelerates.
- Q2 deliveries rose 25% to 480,126 vehicles and revenue rose 26% to $28.24 billion, but operating income fell to $398 million from $923 million as R&D jumped 49% to $2.37 billion and automotive gross margin slipped to 16.9% from 17.2%.
- Full Self-Driving has nearly 1.5 million paid customers and was enabled on 55% of North American Q2 2026 deliveries, supporting record Q2 deliveries and the largest order backlog since 2023, while Tesla's operating margin has compressed from 13.5% three years ago to 4.6% recently.
- A European Union vote on allowing supervised FSD across the bloc, initially expected in October, has been delayed until at least December on safety concerns.
Quotes
“Fitch has assigned Tesla its first investment-grade credit rating of BBB, supported by strong liquidity and AI expansion strategies.”
“Tesla is projecting capital expenditures for 2026 in excess of $25 billion.”
“Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has nearly 1.5 million paid customers, with 55% of North American deliveries in Q2 2026 having an FSD subscription enabled”
“A crucial European Union vote on allowing supervised FSD across the bloc, initially expected in October, has been delayed until at least December amidst safety concerns”