Tesla reported a larger loss per share than expected in the second quarter, but there was more revenue and less of a cash burn than expected — all of which resulted in an after-hours surge in share prices that at one point amounted to more than 10 percent.
There were less quantifiable factors as well, in the form of apologies from Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his behavior three months earlier.
Musk had dressed down Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst for the Sanford C. Bernstein investment management firm, during the previous quarter’s conference call for asking what the billionaire techie called “boring, bonehead questions.” He also had complained about a “dry” question from RBC Capital Markets’ Joseph Spak.
During today’s call, Musk apologized to both analysts.
