Tesla's second-quarter vehicle delivery report released this week exceeded expectations, which is bad news for the company's short sellers.

According to data from S3 Partners, the stock has risen about 17% in two trading days since the release of the second-quarter delivery report, with Tesla short sellers losing about $3.5 billion at market prices. Looking at a longer time frame, Tesla's stock price has soared more than 70% since hitting a low in April this year, making it a painful few months for short sellers.

Currently, Tesla's short positions account for 3.5% of the float, with a short interest of 97 million shares and a notional value of $22.4 billion.

In late April, Tesla's year-to-date decline reached as high as 44%, making it the worst-performing among several major tech giants. Currently, it is only about $2 away from recovering its losses for the year.

Tesla's delivery data released on Tuesday showed that the company delivered 444,000 new vehicles in the second quarter, a year-over-year decrease of 4.8%. This decline is smaller than the 8.5% drop in the first quarter. Although it marks two consecutive quarters of year-over-year decline, it is better than the market's expected 439,300 vehicles, with total production for the quarter at 411,000 units. Tesla's sales in the two major markets of China and the United States both exceeded expectations. In addition, Tesla has retained its position as the leader in global electric vehicle sales.

It is well known that Tesla's automotive business is mired in a sales slump. Due to an aging product line and competition fiercer than ever before, Tesla has been offering discounts, low-interest and even interest-free financing, and other incentives for several months to encourage people to buy its electric vehicles. At the same time, Tesla's latest model, the Cybertruck, has had a slow start, with quality issues leading to four voluntary recalls in the United States within less than a year.

Analysis suggests that while Tesla's latest delivery report indicates that demand for its vehicles remains stronger than expected, it provides limited information about the company's performance. Tesla's financial report, which will be released later this month, will provide a clearer picture of the company's financial condition. Analysts expect Tesla's revenue to decrease by 2.9% to $24.2 billion, while revenue in the first quarter decreased by 9%.

The good news about Tesla this week is not only about delivery data, but also its solar and energy storage business, which has made new breakthroughs in the second quarter, with new battery energy storage capacity reaching a new quarterly high. Data released by Tesla Energy, Tesla's energy subsidiary, shows that 9.4 GWh of battery energy storage products were deployed in the second quarter of this year, setting a new quarterly record, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 129% and an annual increase of 157%, an astonishing growth rate.

Morgan Stanley believes that compared to delivery volumes, Tesla's more dazzling "AI trump card" is its energy storage business. Tesla holds the "key trump card" of solar and energy storage, which will become the key "game-changer" for the next round of AI investment. The power demand brought by the AI boom will make Tesla a key player in the U.S. energy market.

In addition, Tesla's second-generation humanoid robot Optimus made its debut in Shanghai this week, also driving market enthusiasm. Musk said at the shareholders' meeting held last month that he believes Optimus will bring huge profits to the company. He said that Tesla has the ability to produce about 100 million Optimus robots per year. If Tesla has a 10% market share and each robot sells for $20,000, Tesla can earn $1 trillion in profit per year when mass-producing.Tesla CEO Elon Musk's net worth has increased by about $15 billion in the past two days. In response to the view of "shorting Tesla" on platform X this week, he tweeted:

Once Tesla completely solves the autonomous driving problem and mass-produces Optimus robots, anyone still holding short positions will be eliminated, not even Bill Gates will be an exception.