News
Analysts Tour Tesla Factory, Cite “Stunning Progress”
Analysts from Credit Suisse, Stifel Financial and Baird toured the Tesla factory recently. All were favorably impressed with the progress Tesla has made at its production facility.

Analysts from Stifel Financial, Credit Suisse, and Robert W. Baird were given a tour of the Tesla factory in Fremont, California recently. Afterward, they got a chance to sit down with Tesla CFO Jason Wheeler. According to Bloomberg, Steifel analyst James Albertine said,“In roughly one year since our last visit, the progress witnessed is truly stunning.” Tesla has invested amost $1.6 billion in upgrades to the factory in the past 12 months as it prepares to begin manufacturing the Model 3.
Lessons Learned
Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves reports that Tesla has learned valuable lessons from the Model S and Model X. In particular, he says that engineers were in charge of the Model X design process, leaving little room for input from financing, manufacturing, and purchasing departments. Now all groups seem to have an equal voice. “Model 3 launch timing and ease of mass production is significantly more important than it was for the Model X,” Galves wrote. “On the Model 3, management indicated that there is a clear focus on ease of build, on-time launch, and cost.”
Battery Costs Tumbing
Robert Baird’s analyst, Benjamin Kallo, says the factory tour convinced him the cost of batteries for Tesla are already half what the rest of the industry is paying and are continuing to fall faster than anticipated. As a result of his findings, he has raised his rating on Tesla stock to “outperform” and set a target price of $300 a share.
Faster Assembly Lines
All the analysts noted the presence of many more robots on the assembly line since their last visit, but there are more human workers as well. Tesla says it boosted its work force by 29% last year. The total number of people employed at the factory now stands at 13,058.
There are “several football field sized areas spanning the entry to the facility with desks, computers and seemingly invigorated staff,” James Albertine writes. “There was an energy and buzz within the facility that is hard to imagine as an outsider.”
“Robotics systems are customized, production processes are revolutionary, and attention-to-detail/supply chain management is improving by the minute,” Albertine writes. “We do not believe this production process is one competitors can easily recreate.” Benjamin Kallo of Baird & Co says Tesla’s manufacturing skills will help the company reach its target of more than 25% gross profit margins on the Model X.
The analysts noted that the pace of the Model S assembly line is considerably faster than it was at the time of their last visit. By contrast, the Model X line moves quite a bit slower, with only one Model X built for every 6 or 7 Modes S sedans assembled.
New Stamping Equipment
Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves commented in his notes after the tour that Tesla’s new aluminum stamping press has 10 to 20 times the output of Tesla’s older machine. That will help the company keep up with demand for its Model S and Model X aluminum bodied cars. The analysts also noted that the new paint shop, with an annual capacity of 500,000 cars, is complete and ready to finish all the cars the company thinks it will be selling by the time the year 2020 arrives.
In all, the analysts were very impressed with what they saw in Fremont and feel the production side of the company is ready, willing, and able to meet all of Tesla’s sales goals for the near and medium term.
Photo credit: Tesla Motors
News
Tesla Robotaxi wins over firm that said it was ‘likely to disappoint’
Tesla Robotaxi recently won over a Wall Street firm that had recently said the platform was “likely to disappoint.”

Tesla Robotaxi recently won over a Wall Street firm that had recently said the platform was “likely to disappoint.” The ride-hailing service has been operating for about a month, and driverless rides have been offered to a small group of people that continues to expand nearly every day.
JPMorgan went to Austin to test the Tesla Robotaxi platform, and it did so just a few weeks after listing Tesla as one of its “six stocks to short” in 2025. Highlighting the loss of the EV tax credit and labeling the Robotaxi initiative as one that was “likely to disappoint,” despite Tesla’s prowess in its self-driving software.
Analyst Ryan Brinkman has been skeptical of Tesla for some time, even stating that the company’s “sky-high valuation” was not in line with other stocks in the Magnificent Seven.
However, a recent visit to Texas that was made by JPMorgan analysts proved that the Robotaxi platform, despite being in its earliest stages, was enough for them to change their tune, at least slightly. The firm gave its props to the Tesla Robotaxi platform in a note by stating it was “certainly solid and felt like a safe ride at all times.”
It’s always nice to hear skeptics report positive experiences, especially as Robotaxi continues to improve and expand.
Tesla has already expanded its geofence for the Robotaxi suite in Austin, picking a very interesting shape for its newest boundaries:
Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion wasn’t a joke, it was a warning to competitors
As Robotaxi expands, Tesla is dealing with competition from Waymo, another self-driving ride-hailing service that is operating in Austin, among other areas. After Tesla’s expansion, which brought its accessible area to a greater size than Waymo’s, it responded by doubling its geofence.
Waymo’s expansion surpassed Tesla’s size considerably, and it seems Tesla is preparing to expand its geofence in the coming weeks.
Waymo responds to Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion in Austin with bold statement
The Robotaxi platform is not yet available to the public, but Tesla has been inviting more people to try it with every passing day. Currently, the map is roughly 42 square miles, but many believe Tesla is able to broaden this by a considerable margin whenever it decides.
Investor's Corner
Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.
The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.
However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:
Back to working 7 days a week and sleeping in the office if my little kids are away https://t.co/77cc6sRCFZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025
Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.
Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo
These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:
“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”
Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.
In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:
“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”
Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.
The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.
Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.
- Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
- What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
- What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
- Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
- When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
- Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
- Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
- Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
- Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
- When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?
Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.
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