$Tesla(TSLA.US)First take: No matter how glamorous the story is, it must face the reality check. And Tesla's recent reality check feels more like pouring cold water on a group of overenthusiastic investors: Automotive revenue (including car sales, leases, and regulatory credits) seems to have slightly exceeded expectations, but the excess comes entirely from regulatory credits, which have no long-term prospects.

The real core is the automotive business excluding credits. And here, Tesla's performance is particularly disappointing—especially the automotive gross margin excluding credits, which has dropped to 14.6%, far below the market expectation of 16.2%. The impact of promotions in Q2 was much worse than expected.

Two smaller segments, energy and automotive services, performed well—especially energy, with a 160% YoY increase in energy installations (so impressive that it was pre-disclosed in the quarterly shipment report) and 100% revenue growth, which is remarkable.

However, the automotive business, accounting for 80% of revenue, remains the unshakable core. Tesla provided no updates in its earnings report on the next-gen vehicle or the recently delayed robotaxi. With the stock price completely detached from the fundamentals of car manufacturing, it may eventually have to return to reality.