Why Tesla Stock Continued to Surge Higher Today

Reports of the demise of electric vehicle (EV) sales appear to have been exaggerated. At least that's the conclusion that investors are drawing after Tesla (TSLA 10.20%) reported its second-quarter EV delivery numbers today.

After the EV leader reported stronger-than-anticipated vehicle deliveries, Tesla shares led the S&P 500 gainers for the second straight day. As of 10:55 a.m. ET, the stock was up by 8.6% after jumping by more than 6% yesterday. Tesla stock was a beneficiary yesterday ahead of its report after several Chinese EV makers reported strong sales data. But there was even more to like than most anticipated from Tesla's update today.

Tesla delivered nearly 444,000 EVs in the second quarter. Investors had been reducing expectations throughout the period resulting in a consensus estimate of 439,000 units, according to FactSet. The reported figure was almost 5% lower than the year-ago period, but there were some positive facets of the report that investors may be focused on.

In addition to beating estimates, the second quarter featured a drawdown in inventories as deliveries outpaced the 410,831 EVs it produced. A buildup of inventories due to lower perceived demand was a fear that helped drive Tesla's share price down earlier this year. But the stock has now rebounded with a nearly 30% gain over just the last month.

The good news from today's report didn't end there, either. The company noted a record 9.4 GWh (gigawatt hours) of energy storage products deployed in the three-month period. That more than doubled the previous record of 4.1 GWh reported in the first quarter.

There's been a surge in interest in energy storage products to smooth out power supply as renewable energy sources are installed for applications including growing data center construction.

That surge in deployments bodes well for yet another source of revenue for Tesla. Investors will look for even more updates from the company when it reports full second-quarter financials on July 23 and provides an update on its self-driving technology on Aug. 8.