The stock market gave up some momentum on Tuesday, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.52%) took an outsize hit. The Nasdaq fell almost 2% as of 11:30 a.m. EDT, as investors tried to parse through the macroeconomic and public health landscape to figure out whether stocks could continue their run to further all-time highs.
Over the past year and a half, Tesla (TSLA -3.55%) has been one of the top-performing Nasdaq stocks in the entire market. Yet those past gains have created high expectations that even solid earnings results don't always manage to meet. By contrast, another Nasdaq stock that's been popular among investors for years gained a lot of ground Tuesday morning after its own release of its most recent financial report. Below, we'll look at what sent Tesla lower and why this other stock is doing so well.
Tesla stock skids out
Tesla has been a high-growth performer, and this quarter's financial results were no exception. However, the stock slid backwards even as Tesla's fundamental performance floored the gas pedal. As of 11:30 a.m. EDT, Tesla shares were down 3.5%.
Image source: Tesla.
It's hard to overstate how good Tesla's numbers were. Total revenue climbed 98% from year-ago levels, approaching the $12 billion mark. Auto-related sales jumped 97% year over year to $10.2 billion despite a 17% drop in regulatory credits. Tesla's adjusted net income more than quadrupled from the second quarter of 2020, and adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.45.
Moreover, Tesla sees better times ahead. Deliveries and production volume both surged above 200,000 vehicles, as the company had already announced at the beginning of the month, but Tesla also reaffirmed its commitment to grow long-term annual delivery counts at a 50% rate and said it expects to beat that growth rate in 2021.
All that good news might seem inconsistent with a sizable decline in the stock price. But remember that Tesla is still up more than 650% since the beginning of 2020. Those gains already reflected high growth expectations of the scale that Tesla has delivered on thus far.
Looking skyward
Shareholders in satellite radio pioneer Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI -1.29%) were a lot happier than Tesla investors on Tuesday. Sirius XM climbed 5% Tuesday morning as the market reacted to good news on the earnings front.
Growth from Sirius XM wasn't as explosive as Tesla's gains, but it was still noteworthy. Across the entire company, Sirius XM saw revenue climb 15% from year-ago levels. That resulted in net income coming close to doubling from the previous year's period, and earnings came in at $0.10 per share.
The satellite radio segment reported a 7% rise in revenue year over year to $1.64 billion, as the company said that average revenue per user rose 4% while subscriber counts picked up 3%. Sirius XM now counts 31.4 million self-pay subscribers, which is a new record for the satellite radio giant. At its Pandora unit, advertising revenue jumped 82% year over year, although listener-hour counts were down 8% to 3.03 billion.
Moreover, better times could come. Sirius XM has seen weakness in its paid promotional subscriber count, because the auto market has struggled from shortages of the semiconductor chips necessary for new car production. The company said that it has strong momentum for the second half of 2021, and with smart capital allocation moves allowing it to refinance debt at a more attractive rate, Sirius XM is setting itself up for a win over the long haul.
