Dear Friend,

In 1976, a Chevron drilling team tapped an energy source so powerful it could run a city.

No fuel costs. No carbon. No supply chain.

They proved it worked. Then they killed the project.

Unocal proved it worked. Killed it.

Texaco proved it worked. Killed it.

Three of the largest oil companies on Earth confirmed the same thing.

And all three buried the results for the same reason: it would have destroyed their core business.

For fifty years, the official line was “the technology isn’t ready.“

The technology was fine. The threat was too big.

Now one company has spent sixty years perfecting what Big Oil refused to touch.

Google just locked in a 15-year contract. Bill Gates wrote a $100 million check. And on August 18th, the government hands it a competitive edge no other energy source gets.

Big Oil had fifty years to act. They chose not to.

See the company that didn’t wait >>

“The Buck Stops Here,”
Kelly Maguire
Behind the Markets

Tesla’s Delivery Surprise Was Big—Earnings Need to Be Bigger

Written by Sam Quirke. Published: 7/16/2026.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares have been consolidating ahead of the company's July 22 Q2 earnings report, with the stock's recent range continuing to narrow. This kind of price-action tightening often signals that the market is firmly in wait-and-see mode.

However, Tesla recently delivered a surprisingly strong data point that could swing the balance in favor of the bulls. Earlier this month, the company reported record quarterly deliveries of 480,126 vehicles, beating consensus estimates by 18%. Just as importantly, deliveries outpaced production, suggesting that inventory levels are healthy heading into the report rather than being propped up by discounting or channel stuffing.

On paper, that's exactly the kind of headline that should silence at least some of the critics who have questioned demand, worried about Chinese competition and flagged a valuation that leaves little room for disappointment.

The real question is whether it could translate into the kind of knockout earnings report that proves the bears wrong and gets the stock turning north again.

Tesla's EV Business Still Has Some Life Left

It's worth noting that this delivery beat arrived just as Tesla's core EV business has been looking its most vulnerable. Slowing growth, mounting competition and questions about demand have combined to leave its established car business looking increasingly tired in recent months.

And while much of the investor focus has shifted to other parts of the business, this latest number is the clearest sign yet that there might be some juice left in Tesla's EV business.

What makes that all the more compelling is that the stock hasn't really moved to reflect the shift. Deliveries beating estimates by roughly 18% is the kind of result that would usually spark a meaningful jump in shares. Instead, they’ve barely budged, suggesting that the market either hasn't fully absorbed the news or remains too nervous to commit ahead of the report.

Why Margins Could Matter More

For all the enthusiasm around the delivery beat, the real swing factor for the July 22 report could be the company’s gross margin. Deliveries tell investors how many cars Tesla sold, but margins show how profitably it sold them—and that's ultimately the figure the market cares about most.

Gross-margin deterioration has been flagged repeatedly as one of the company's primary headwinds, and for good reason. Tesla has relied on price cuts and incentives at various points over the past few years to keep volumes moving. If that dynamic shows up again in the Q2 numbers, it could easily offset the goodwill generated by the delivery beat.

The AI and Robotics Story Adds Another Layer

For those tempted to lean into the potential upside surprise in the Q2 earnings report, several other factors support the bull case. Beyond the core automotive business, Tesla's non-EV ambitions have been quietly gathering momentum and are likely to feature heavily in how investors judge the update.

The ongoing rollout of its robotaxi service is a good example, with Tesla recently expanding the offering to Miami. Its energy-storage business has also been climbing steadily, emerging as an additional high-margin growth engine in its own right.

Add in the continued progress on its Full Self-Driving and Optimus initiatives, and the picture that emerges is of a company whose growth story no longer rests solely on vehicle sales. For a stock that has often been valued as much for its future potential as for its present-day earnings, that broadening base of momentum gives the bulls plenty to point to heading into the earnings report.

Sizing Up the Opportunity

For those currently watching from the sidelines, the reality remains that Tesla is a famously divisive ticker—a sentiment that hasn't shifted despite the recent delivery strength. Wall Street's overall consensus rating remains a Hold, underscoring the split. Wells Fargo reiterated its Underweight rating, while other analysts have continued to focus on Tesla's long-term AI and robotics potential.

It’s this kind of divergence that places so much weight on the earnings call. If Tesla can pair healthy margins with some genuinely bullish updates to its newer growth engines, that should be enough to swing the narrative firmly back toward the bulls.

However, if those numbers miss the mark, the long-standing questions about its premium valuation will likely linger, regardless of how many cars were delivered last quarter. Either way, the coming days should finally offer some clarity on which side of the argument has been getting it right.