Elon Musk's very important date on Tuesday todayheadline

It’s not known if Elon Musk regrets that Tesla (TSLA) will report first-quarter earnings this week.

But there it is. The electric-vehicles maker that Musk leads reports its quarterly results after Tuesday’s close. The results — and, probably, the guidance — could produce some big volatility afterward. .

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The stock is down 40.2% so far in 2025. It’s down nearly 51% from its 52-week high on Dec. 18, 2024. It fell 10.5% in just two days after President Trump issued his tariff plan on April

Musk may shrug it all off. The stock does have a wild history. The shares fell 42.8% between 2023’s end and an April bottom of $138.80. From there, it blasted off to a 190% gain by year-end.

Related: Tesla Cybertruck owners are going to hate Tesla’s latest move

Despite all that market drama, despite Tesla’s massive market capitalization of $775 billion, despite Musk stature as the world’s richest man (even with this year’s 13% decline), the world must go on.

Tesla, in fact, faces important challenges now that will be part of the discussion during the earnings call. These include:

Sales of its Cybertruck are struggling.
Tesla vehicle sales overall have been down in Europe, China and the United States.
Not helping: An erratic economy.
Also not helping: Musk himself. He’s alienated many people with his over-the-top role as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency and staunch ally of Donald Trump.
if Musk has time to be Tesla CEO. Some investors have called for Musk’s resignation.

Tesla is supposed to announce plans to start its Robotaxi service in Austin in late spring or summer with, the company hopes, autonomous driving. There’s hope Tesla will start selling refreshes of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

Related: General Motors is set to overtake Tesla in one key area

And the earnings themselves may be disappointing:

The consensus is Tesla will report 43-cents-a-share in first-quarter earnings, a touch lower than a year ago. But the estimate is down from 72 cents a share as 2025 opened. Revenue is expected at $21.45 billion, flat from a year ago but helped by decent sales of solar panels and related technology.

The stock is trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

So, the tension will build all day Monday and Tuesday.

Production of Tesla Model Y electric vehicles at the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plant.

picture alliance/Getty Images

All tariffs all the time — for now

The Trump tariffs will be talked about on every earnings call. They must because the tariffs or talk of tariffs have battered stocks all year when Wall Street was expecting a little volatility and then a big year.

Few expected the S&P 500 to be down 10.2% year-to-date or the Nasdaq Composite to be down 15.7% by nearly weeks into the second quarter.

Related: An investor looks at navigating tariff wars

Things were in free-fall on April 9, The Wall Street Journal reported, when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick worked in a meeting with the president to get him to suspend the worst of the tariffs for 90 days while uber-tariff hawk Peter Navarro was somewhere else.

The meeting worked, and stocks enjoyed a giant rebound.

It’s still not clear if a bottom has been reached.

Related: Analyst turns heads with Disney stock price target reboot

Two companies exposed to the tariffs

Two companies that have been or may be hit by tariffs: Boeing (BA) and AutoNation (AN) , the national auto retail chain.

Boeing, which reports before Wednesday’s open, was planning to deliver a lot of 737 aircraft to China this year but delivered only two before the Chinese government said refused to accept a third. It flew back to Seattle (refueling in Guam and Hawaii) on Sunday.

Trump this month raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%. China has retaliated with a 125% tariff on U.S. goods. A Chinese airline taking delivery of a $55-million Boeing jet could be crippled by the tariffs, Reuters reported.

Boeing has been the biggest supplier of jet aircraft to China, but China’s commercial aircraft Comac, which has aspirations to compete in the globalcommercial jet market, can’t build planes as fast as Boeing or Airbus.

Airbus may be the winner.

More Wall Street Analysts:

Analyst unveils startling Nvidia stock forecast amid tariffs
Wall Street sounds alarm on Tesla, Elon Musk problem
Analysts see challenges for Apple over tariffs

AutoNation shares reached a closing high of $195.15 on Feb.11. The shares have slumped 15.1%. The company has 325 outlets and selling 31 different brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW, Lexus, Porsche and Bentley.

So, how it deals with tariffs will be a big part of Friday morning’s earnings call. The shares had risen nearly 48% between October 2023 to Feb. 10.

Also due this week:

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) , after Tuesday’s close. Earnings estimate: $1.73, up 15.3% from a year ago.
IBM (IBM) , after Wednesday’s close. Estimate $1.42, down 15% from a year ago.
Mining giant Newmont (NEM) . Earnings estimate up 58%, thanks to soaring gold prices.
Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL) , after Thursday’s close. Earnings estimate: $2.02, up 6.9%.
Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) , which nearly failed in the winter of 2024.