Next week on the stock market

Tesla comes into next week’s third-quarter results hot off the back of its Robotaxi event, where investors got a glimpse of what the future of Tesla will look like. We already know delivery numbers for the quarter were good, with what looks like decent Chinese demand and a push on financing deals helping to deliver a return to growth. We don’t know how big of an impact those incentives will have on auto margins, but we expect to see some ongoing softness here.

Given the lack of detail at the Robotaxi event, investors will be eager to hear any commentary on both the more affordable model and a refreshed model Y. The irony is that the closer Tesla gets to launching these products, the less likely we are to hear any chatter about them to avoid buyers delaying purchases. Nevertheless, these are two critical pieces of the puzzle to help drive demand over the next couple of years while work goes on in the background to optimise full self-driving.

Back in July, second-quarter results blew the lid off market expectations, leading management to upgrade full-year guidance for the second time this year. Higher prices, increased volumes, and helpful shipment timings saw revenue and operating profits both move higher at double-digit rates.

When the group reports results next week, we expect to hear that some of this momentum has spilled into the third quarter. But Coca-Cola’s rolling into some tough comparable periods for growth over the second half of the year, so don’t expect the same level of positive surprise as in the first half. Cash generation remains very healthy, providing scope for increased share buybacks and potentially even new acquisitions in the near to medium term.

NatWest has plenty of wind in its sails after second-quarter results in July were a knockout, beating expectations across pretty much every metric that mattered. Attention now turns to next week’s third-quarter performance, where pre-impairment profit is expected to be broadly flat quarter-over-quarter. Impairments themselves will be key, UK unemployment at 4.0% was a nice surprise and we wouldn’t be shocked to hear more commentary pointing to robust default rates.

Margins and loan growth will also be in focus. With the Bank of England delivering its first rate cut in July, we’ll be keen to see how much of that has been passed on and whether it’s triggered any shifting behaviours from savers. On the loan side, an improving housing market should set the scene for mortgage growth, and we’re also interested to hear whether corporate clients are picking up activity, given NatWest's outsized exposure relative to peers.