This Could Be Tesla's Most Important Earnings Report In Its History
(CNN Money) -- Earlier this month Tesla announced a milestone. It finally made 5,000 Model 3s in a week.
Wednesday, investors will get to find out the potential consequences to meeting that production goal. Tesla may have burned through even more precious cash.
Rohan Williamson, a professor of finance at Georgetown University Business School, is not optimistic.
"The signals over the recent months should be concerning to investors," Williamson said in an emailed statement. "The cash burn rate for the car business is very high and that is what we are seeing in Tesla. This is not surprising in general but the rate is particularly high" for Tesla.
The company's last earnings report in May revealed it had eaten through $700 million in three months. That left its cash stockpile at $2.7 billion.
Related: Has Elon Musk lost control of his hype machine?
Analysts say demand for the Model 3 has waned recently because of long wait times. The Model 3 is aimed at a mass-market audience, but Tesla still hasn't made any $35,000 base model cars available.
CEO Elon Musk made the bold promise earlier this year that Tesla would post its first quarterly profit in years this fall, a claim many analysts viewed skeptically.
Others are more optimistic.
"Based on what we're seeing in the trajectory of production, we think they will be profitable" later this year, automotive analyst Jamie Albertine told CNBC last month.
Tesla recently laid off about 9% of its staff. Musk explained in June that the job cuts were part of a restructuring plan to eliminate "duplication of roles" and added that the layoffs should reduce costs and help the firm on its path to profitability.
Related: Tesla's magic is wearing off as Model 3 excitement dwindles
Wednesday's earnings report also comes as Musk has faced scrutiny for recent erratic behavior.
Earlier this month, he made an unfounded criminal accusation about one of the rescuers who helped save a group of young boys and their soccer coach from a flooding cave in Thailand.
During May's conference call with analysts, Musk's behavior was bizarre. He told analysts them their questions were boring, and spent a significant amount of time fielding questions from a YouTuber.
Tesla's stock has fallen more than 13% over the past six months.
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