Tesla ( TSLA 4.71%) stock gained ground today in the lead-up to its first-quarter earnings results, which were published after the market closed. The electric vehicle (EV) leader's share price ended the day up 4.8% amid a 2.5% jump for the S&P 500 and a 2.7% gain for the Nasdaq Composite.

Tesla's first-quarter earnings report itself was a disaster, but Musk gave investors some much-needed good news on the conference call.

Tesla (TSLA) stock rose as much as 7% early Wednesday after CEO Elon Musk said he would spend more time at Tesla and less time in Washington, D.C., news that overshadowed a challenging quarter for the company that saw results come in far below Wall Street forecasts.