Tesla Sales Surge, Credit-Reporting Bureaus Slide, Berkshire Hathaway Falls

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Tesla (TSLA) reported a surprise record quarter of vehicle sales as US consumers accelerated electric-car purchases before federal tax credits expired.
The company delivered 497,099 vehicles worldwide, 7.4% more than a year ago. While that total far exceeds the roughly 439,600 average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg, Tesla’s shares slumped Thursday following a record monthly gain in market capitalization. Investors recently looked past Tesla’s first-half sales weakness to Musk’s promises of growth in areas such as driverless vehicles, artificial intelligence and robotics. The carmaker’s shares soared 33% in September, recouping early-year losses and adding $401.9 billion of market value. The stock gave back some of those gains Thursday, falling as much as 3.2% as of noon New York time.

- Credit-reporting bureaus like TransUnion (TRU) and Equixfax (EFX) each dropped at least 12% during trading Thursday on word that Fair Isaac, better known as FICO, will now sell credit scores directly to mortgage resellers. Through a new program, mortgage resellers will be able to calculate and distribute credit scores directly to customers, reducing their reliance on credit bureaus. This will bring more price transparency and savings for mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and other industry participants, FICO said in a statement.

- Berkshire Hathaway shares dipped on word that Occidental Petroleum Corp. is done with monster dealmaking after reaching its asset-sales target with the $9.7 billion chemical-unit sale to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. “I believe we are done with the big deals,” Occidental Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub said in an interview Thursday. “This pretty much gets us where we need to be.” Following the Texas oil driller’s transformational purchase of CrownRock LP for $10.8 billion in August 2024, Hollub targeted as much as $6 billion in asset sales to whittle away debt. As of early August, the company already was roughly two-thirds of the way to that goal.

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