The way this would work is that people work out a target price based on that estimate, and the price should rise accordingly. In any case, they are only a few p

The way this would work is that people work out a target price based on that estimate, and the price should rise accordingly. In any case, they are only a few percent off, the fact that its a "miss" or a "beat" needs to be taken in accordance with magnitude. You are onto something though that a "beat" or a "miss," ever so slight, is generally followed by an increase or drop that tends to be excessive, but this tends to revert within a few days. Some stock pickers like to zero in on stocks that "beat by a penny" (per share) because that is often evidence of some kind of accounting shenanigans to just get over the line. I don't follow Tesla stock much, but it looks like there was a significant bump in mid September, perhaps on some of these earnings forecasts being updated, and now the price is just falling back in line with reality.