NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla reported a decline in profit for the latest quarter but a measure of cash its business generated surged, leaving investors with a mixed picture as it prepares for a possible merger with Elon Musk’s other big company, SpaceX.
The electric vehicle maker reported third-quarter net income of $787 million, or 22 cents per share, down 44% from the year-earlier period. Excluding certain items, though, earnings per share of 48 cents beat Wall Street analyst expectations by 3 cents.
One standout for the quarter was Tesla's $1.5 billion in free cash flow, a measure of cash generated after subtracting investments needed to keep the business running. Given big artificial intelligence spending, analysts had expected Tesla would report it had burned through cash, not generated it.
“It seems Tesla is taking a more capital-efficient approach, delaying longer-term projects to be able to self-fund their AI growth,” said Morningtar analyst Seth Goldstein, calling the cash jump the big surprise of the quarter.
Revenue was basically flat at $28 billion, falling slightly short of analysts’ forecast.
In a SpaceX conference call after that company reported earnings on Tuesday, Musk said a long-rumored merger with Tesla might be in the works. He said that special committees had been set up at each company to discuss a possible combination, while cautioning that many hurdles remain.
Musk declined to discuss the possible merger further on Tesla’s conference call.
Tesla stock fell 3.2% in after-hours trading after climbing 3.6% during the regular trading session.
The company also reported doubling capital spending for the quarter to $4.7 billion, but analysts had expected a far bigger increase. The shortfall raised questions as to whether growth in the business in future months might not be as fast as investors had expected, a concern that Tesla heightened in its conference call when it said it was cutting its full-year 2026 capital spending estimate from $25 billion to $20 billion.
On the positive side, Tesla reported that a big selling feature of Tesla's cars, driver-assistance software that Tesla owners pay for separately, are in high demand with 75% of vehicles sold in North America including a subscription to the service.
The company calls the feature Full-Self Driving (Supervised), the word in parenthesis added after regulators said the term was misleading because the software requires drivers to stay alert and ready to take control at any time.
Profit margins also held up despite concerns that discounts to boost sales may have squeezed profitability in recent quarters. For the three months through September, Tesla reported that it made 18.1 cents for every dollar of car sales, up almost 3 cents from a year earlier.
Tesla had previously reported selling nearly 490,000 vehicles last quarter, a rise from the prior three months. The increase followed a brutal drop stretching more than a year amid backlash over Musk’s support for President Donald Trump and right-wing politicians in Europe.
FILE - The Tesla logo is displayed at a Tesla dealership Thursday, Mar. 13, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, file)
ATLANTA (AP) — Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream are halfway toward their ultimate goal of winning the franchise's first WNBA championship.
They know there is still work to do. But with a huge Atlanta crowd behind them and Reese dominating the last two games, there's reason to believe in a team that never even had a WNBA Finals win until this series.
Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help the Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97-71 on Wednesday night and take a 2-1 lead. It was the second straight strong game for Reese, who had 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2, which the Dream also won for their first victory ever in the championship round. She has a double-double in each game of the finals.
“It feels good when you’re in the finals. It’s a long season and you play against everybody and go through and push through, but when you can do it at the highest level, this is what you live for, this is what the offseason is for," Reese said. "I put the work in for this moment and I’m just happy I could lead the team to a win. We’re feeling good going into Saturday.”
That game will also be played at State Farm Arena. Both games in Atlanta were originally set for the Gateway Center Arena, where the Dream play most of their home games. The league was able to work with the Atlanta Hawks to play Games 3 and 4 there so that they could have a much bigger crowd. Gateway only seats 3,500. State Farm Arena can seat more than 17,000 fans.
And they made a difference.
“Protect home court,” Atlanta's Rhyne Howard said. “Giving our fans a show. We fought for this arena so we had to protect it. It’s big. We went and stole one but we can’t let them come in and do the same thing.”
With the game tied at 49 in the third quarter, Atlanta scored eight straight, including four by Reese. Golden State got within 59-55 on Tiffany Hayes’ layup, but could get no closer as Atlanta closed the quarter scoring 12 of the final 14 points.
“I’m most proud of the second half because the first few possessions were a little sloppy. I was really close to using a timeout. They pulled together on their own and got it worked out, cleaned it up themselves,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. “They knew what mistakes they were making, and they huddled up. And then they started making plays, and it started. The crowd started getting behind it.”
Atlanta has dominated the third quarter so far in the series, outscoring Golden State 63-35 combined in the three games.
With Atlanta up 17 in the fourth quarter, Jordin Canada overthrew Reese on the break, but she saved the ball by throwing it over her head underneath the basket to Howard, who got fouled.
Golden State could never recover. Gabby Williams scored 15 points and Hayes added 14 for the Valkyries.
“Disappointed in our fight. This game they wanted it more than us,” Hayes said. “That’s not who we are, who we’ve been and how we got here.”
Wednesday night’s game was sold out as is Game 4 on Saturday. The crowd included many music stars, including Ludacris. Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom said he was going to be at the game. The Atlanta Dream and State Farm Arena offered him a private suite for his protection. He refused to sit in it and was left the arena.
The game got off to a slow start as Atlanta led 9-1 after the first five minutes. Golden State missed its first eight shots before Aminata Gueye scored the first basket for the Valkyries with 4:39 left. They got within 13-10 before Hillmon hit consecutive 3-pointers and then Reese hit one. The Dream led 23-15 after the opening quarter.
The hot 3-point shooting continued in the second quarter as Atlanta built its lead to 37-26 midway through the period. Golden State was able to hang around and only trailed 46-40 at the break as the teams combined to shoot 15-for-31 (48%) from behind the arc. That was more made 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes then in either Game 1 or Game 2.
Reese had 15 points and WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year Janelle Salaun had 11 for the Valkyries.
Game 1 and 2 had huge ratings with the opener on NBC averaging 2.1 million, the most ever to watch a first game of the Finals. Game 2, which was broadcast on USA Network, averaged 1.33 million viewers.
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
Golden State Valkyries center Kiah Stokes (41) is defended by Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) during the second half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball finals on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Golden State Valkyries forward Janelle Salaün (13) reacts after making a 3-point basket against the Atlanta Dream during the first half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball finals on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Golden State Valkyries center Aminata Gueye, left, and Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) compete for possession of the ball during the second half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball finals on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard (10) reacts after scoring during the first half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball finals against the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard (10) celebrates scoring during the first half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball finals against the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
