Tesla's Sales Slumped For The 2nd Quarter In A Row, But Things Weren't As Bad As Investors Feared

Tesla has sought to increase its sales with financing offers and reduced prices.Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesTesla sales were down nearly 5% in the second quarter.The performance wasn't as bad as analysts had expected.Tesla's stock rose more than 8% following the news.Tesla's sales fell for the second straight quarter, down nearly 5% compared with the same period a year ago.While the decline in deliveries is yet another sign that an industrywide electric-vehicle slowdown is finally affecting Elon Musk's Tesla, Tuesday's numbers were not as bad as some analysts had expected, sending the stock up more than 8%.Dan Ives of Wedbush, a longtime Tesla bull, called the second-quarter sales results "a huge comeback performance" for the EV company."In a nutshell, the worst is in the rearview mirror for Tesla as we believe the EV demand story is starting to return," Ives wrote in a note to clients.Tesla reported second-quarter sales of 443,956 units Tuesday morning, down about 4.7% from the same quarter a year ago — but above Wall Street expectations.Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected Tesla to deliver 439,302 cars in the quarter, a roughly 6% decline compared with last year.Tesla is graded on a curveWhen you're gauging Tesla's performance, it's important not to get bogged down in the hard numbers — at least, so say its most ardent supporters.In the first quarter, Tesla reported a huge earnings miss after posting some of its worst delivery results in years.