Bad news for Tesla investors: the company badly missed profit expectations, burned through cash, and is leaning on heavy discounts to move an aging car lineup.

• Tesla beat on revenue but missed profit by more than a third, because it slashed prices and offered 0% financing to keep sales up.
• Free cash flow turned negative after $5.8 billion in spending, and shrinking margins point to a weak core car business.
• Much of the reported profit was a paper gain on Tesla's SpaceX stake — but SpaceX shares have since dropped 27%, so most of that "profit" is already gone.
• Tesla is pivoting away from selling cars toward robotaxis and humanoid robots, neither of which is on sale yet, while the Cybertruck is being called one of the biggest flops ever.
• Cheap Chinese automakers like BYD are gaining fast worldwide, and a Senate China bill could ban rivals like Mercedes from the US market.

Outlook: Without a fresh car lineup or lower prices, Tesla faces more margin pressure, and its future now rides on unproven robotaxi and robot bets.