Tesla is holding Bitcoin long term

Tesla (TSLA) announced in its Q2 2023 earnings release that it did not make any new bitcoin purchases or sales during the quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of no bitcoin activity. The net value of Tesla’s digital assets at the end of the quarter remained steady at $184 million, the same as the previous three quarters. Despite the increase in bitcoin’s price during the quarter, accounting rules prevent the company from increasing the valuation of digital assets unless they are sold.

Q2 2023 Earnings Call https://t.co/mZu4TeZ6lE

— Tesla (@Tesla) July 19, 2023

In Q2 2022, Tesla sold more than 30,000 bitcoins, equivalent to approximately 75% of its holdings, for $936 million. Prior to that, the company had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in early 2021. CEO Elon Musk’s initial support for bitcoin and the announcement that Tesla would accept bitcoin as payment for its cars had contributed to boosting bitcoin prices, but the company later retracted this decision.

Tesla reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.91 for the second quarter, surpassing the consensus analyst estimate of $0.80. The company’s revenue of $24.9 billion also exceeded analyst estimates of $24.2 billion. Following the earnings release, Tesla’s shares rose 1% to $288.96 in after-hours trading, and the stock has experienced a significant increase of over 136% throughout the year.

(Note: The previous version of this article mistakenly stated Tesla’s adjusted Q2 earnings per share as $0.78 instead of the correct value of $0.91.)