Al Root

Tesla stock was falling in early trading Monday as it goes for three consecutive weekly gains.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker were down 0.5% in premarket trading, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

Shares rose 0.8% this past week. That gain followed a strong 18.1% jump the week Tesla reported first-quarter earnings.

Earnings, however, weren't all that impressive. Tesla reported an operating profit of $399 million, down about 66% year over year, missing Wall Street estimates of some $900 million.

That typically isn't a recipe for a big stock gain, but the company stuck to its robo-taxi timeline on its earnings conference call. Tesla still plans to launch a self-driving taxi service in June. That helped shares. Shareholders believe autonomous driving technology can unlock a new wave of growth for the company.

Tesla is leaning into the June deadline. The Tesla AI account on X tweeted on May 1 that June 1 was 31 days away.

Self-driving cars weren't explicitly mentioned in the post, but June has been on the minds of Tesla analysts and investors for months.

Investors got a small look at Tesla's self-driving technology over the weekend. Fox News host Lara Trump toured Tesla's Austin, Texas plant. One of the things she saw was Tesla vehicles driving themselves off the assembly line.

Just how hard it is to go from the assembly line to the Streets of Austin is difficult to say. Tesla, however, believes it's ready to make the leap.

Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was down about 29% year to date. Shares were up about 55% over the past 12 months.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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May 05, 2025 05:18 ET (09:18 GMT)

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