Tesla shares wipe out loss for the year with 27% rally this week

Tesla's stock price rose enough on Friday to wipe out its loss for the year and bring its gain for the week to 27%.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker closed Friday at $251.55. They ended last year at $248.48, and proceeded to fall as low as $138.80 in April.

The latest rally was sparked by a better-than-expected deliveries report for the second quarter on Tuesday. While deliveries still dropped 4.8% from a year earlier, the falloff was less steep than the first-quarter decline, and gave investors reasons for optimism heading into the second half.

In April, Tesla shares hit a 52-week low after a string of troubling developments. Sales in the core automotive business fell in the first quarter, the company downsized through sweeping layoffs and there were reports that Tesla had scrapped plans to soon produce a low-cost family car at its Texas factory.

Tesla is set to deliver second-quarter financial results after the bell on July 23. Automotive gross margins are likely to be in focus.

Since last year, Tesla has been offering extensive discounts and incentives to attract customers to its aging lineup of EVs, including its popular entry-level Model 3 sedans, Model Y crossover utility vehicles and its more expensive flagship Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.

In late 2023, Tesla started selling its angular Cybertruck. A Tesla Cybertruck account on social media site X posted on Thursday that the truck had become the bestselling fully electric pickup in the U.S. in the second quarter.

Ford reported sales of its fully electric model, the F-150 Lightning, totaling 7,902 in the second quarter and 15,645 through June of this year.

Tesla did not respond to CNBC's request for more information.

Beyond the upcoming earnings report, Cantor