Investor's Corner
The Elon Musk effect: Dogecoin spikes after Tesla CEO Tweets meme
The Elon Musk effect is real, and it’s affecting everything from stocks to Cryptocurrencies. At 2:57 AM EST, the Tesla CEO Tweeted a legendary Lion King meme, with his face dubbed on Rafiki, and the Dogecoin logo photoshopped onto Simba. Before that, Musk shared a picture of Falcon 9 lifting off into the stratosphere. What happened next? The currency spiked by nearly a third.
At 2:29 AM, Musk shared a photo of the Falcon 9 rocket, a SpaceX spacecraft launching and lifting toward outer space. A simple, one-word reply to his own photograph followed six minutes later: Doge.
Doge
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
At that time, Dogecoin immediately began a spike in value. Still, Musk wasn’t finished with his effort to help lift the value of the now-widely-known Dogecoin, as the Lion King meme came less than a half-hour later. For around 32 minutes, Dogecoin continued to grow in value, reaching 5.79 cents a share, something that does not sound like it is all that valuable. However, a 779.02% growth in 2021 so far would say otherwise.
-->ur welcome pic.twitter.com/e2KF57KLxb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
The surge isn’t speculative either, the timing of the spike can be directly attributed to Musk’s Tweets. Graphs from CoinDesk show Musk’s influence and how it lines up with the spike in valuation.
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- CoinDesk
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- CoinDesk
The Musk Effect
Elon Musk seems to have a small amount of control over some stocks, coming from the influence he has felt as the frontman of his electric car company, Tesla. It all started when investors took a Tweet of his out of context on a stock called Signal, a messaging application. Daily downloads were averaging to about 50,000 per day, CNET reported, but these surged to over 1.3 million by January 11th, four days after Musk’s Tweet.
Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
As a result of Musk’s Tweets, Signal exploded from 37 cents per share in early December to $38.70 on January 11th, giving it a 5,675% surge in value. This was the most significant effect Musk had on any stock, but it surely didn’t stop there.
After the Signal situation, Musk said “I kinda love Etsy,” because of a Marvin the Martian wool help he bought for his dog. The stock didn’t experience even close to the same surge in value as Signal, only boosting 2.2% on the day, but still seeing some gains after Musk’s tweet.
Bought a hand knit wool Marvin the Martian helm for my dog
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021
-->Dogecoin seems to be the most recent example, but it certainly may not be the last. Musk, a man vocal about his distaste for short-selling, may hold some influence as retail investors are learning to combat against large hedge funds who have controlled markets for over a century. Now, the little guy is getting some help from a man for the people, Elon Musk, who not only is trying to save the world from environmental collapse, but also by supporting the recent r/WallStreetBets saga, that has made retail investors substantial sums.
Musk even got into touch with Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s CEO, during a Clubhouse session last week. Musk had the opportunity to speak with Tenev to clear up some confusion about why Robinhood shut down trading on some stocks that had high growth, including Gamestop and AMC, and why Tenev received a demand for $3 billion at 3 AM from the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).
Elon Musk gets Robinhood CEO to ‘spill the beans’ on trade restrictions
“So, it was unprecedented activity. I don’t have the full context about what was going on, what’s going on in the NSCC to make these calculations,” Tenev said while adding that restricting certain stocks was not in Robinhood’s control. “We had no choice,” he said.
Musk asked, “If you had no choice, that’s understandable. But then we’ve got to find out why you had no choice and who are these people that are saying you have no choice?”
-->“To be fair, we were able to open and service our customers. Twenty-four hours later, our team raised over a billion in capital, so that when we do open [Monday] morning, we’ll be able to kind of relax these stringent position limits that we put on these securities on Friday,” Tenev replied. “This was a clearinghouse decision, and it was just based on the capital requirements. So, from our perspective, Citadel and other market makers weren’t involved in that.”
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA and Dogecoin Shareholder. He does not own GameStop, Etsy, or Signal stock and has no intentions to change any positions within 72 hours.
Investor's Corner
Mizuho keeps Tesla (TSLA) “Outperform” rating but lowers price target
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected.
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh lowered Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) price target to $475 from $485, citing potential 2026 EV subsidy cuts in the U.S. and China that could pressure deliveries. The firm maintained its Outperform rating for the electric vehicle maker, however.
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected. The U.S. accounted for roughly 37% of Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 sales, while China represented about 34%, making both markets highly sensitive to policy shifts. Potential 50% cuts to Chinese subsidies and reduced U.S. incentives affected the firm’s outlook.
With those pressures factored in, the firm now expects Tesla to deliver 1.75 million vehicles in 2026 and 2 million in 2027, slightly below consensus estimates of 1.82 million and 2.15 million, respectively. The analyst was cautiously optimistic, as near-term pressure from subsidies is there, but the company’s long-term tech roadmap remains very compelling.
Despite the revised target, Mizuho remained optimistic on Tesla’s long-term technology roadmap. The firm highlighted three major growth drivers into 2027: the broader adoption of Full Self-Driving V14, the expansion of Tesla’s Robotaxi service, and the commercialization of Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot.
“We are lowering TSLA Ests/PT to $475 with Potential BEV headwinds in 2026E. We believe into 2026E, US (~37% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) EV subsidy cuts and China (34% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) potential 50% EV subsidy cuts could be a headwind to EV deliveries.
-->“We are now estimating TSLA deliveries for 2026/27E at 1.75M/2.00M (slightly below cons. 1.82M/2.15M). We see some LT drivers with FSD v14 adoption for autonomous, robotaxi launches, and humanoid robots into 2027 driving strength,” the analyst noted.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) has landed an elusive “must own” status from Wall Street firm Melius, according to a new note released early this week.
Analyst Rob Wertheimer said Tesla will lead the charge in world-changing tech, given the company’s focus on self-driving, autonomy, and Robotaxi. In a note to investors, Wertheimer said “the world is about to change, dramatically,” because of the advent of self-driving cars.
He looks at the industry and sees many potential players, but the firm says there will only be one true winner:
“Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is.”
The major argument is that autonomy is nearing a tipping point where years of chipping away at the software and data needed to develop a sound, safe, and effective form of autonomous driving technology turn into an avalanche of progress.
Wertheimer believes autonomy is a $7 trillion sector,” and in the coming years, investors will see “hundreds of billions in value shift to Tesla.”
A lot of the major growth has to do with the all-too-common “butts in seats” strategy, as Wertheimer believes that only a fraction of people in the United States have ridden in a self-driving car. In Tesla’s regard, only “tens of thousands” have tried Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (Supervised) version, which is v14.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
When it reaches a widespread rollout and more people are able to experience Tesla Full Self-Driving v14, he believes “it will shock most people.”
Citing things like Tesla’s massive data pool from its vehicles, as well as its shift to end-to-end neural nets in 2021 and 2022, as well as the upcoming AI5 chip, which will be put into a handful of vehicles next year, but will reach a wider rollout in 2027, Melius believes many investors are not aware of the pace of advancement in self-driving.
Tesla’s lead in its self-driving efforts is expanding, Wertheimer says. The company is making strategic choices on everything from hardware to software, manufacturing, and overall vehicle design. He says Tesla has left legacy automakers struggling to keep pace as they still rely on outdated architectures and fragmented supplier systems.
Tesla shares are up over 6 percent at 10:40 a.m. on the East Coast, trading at around $416.
Investor's Corner
Tesla analyst maintains $500 PT, says FSD drives better than humans now
The team also met with Tesla leaders for more than an hour to discuss autonomy, chip development, and upcoming deployment plans.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) received fresh support from Piper Sandler this week after analysts toured the Fremont Factory and tested the company’s latest Full Self-Driving software. The firm reaffirmed its $500 price target, stating that FSD V14 delivered a notably smooth robotaxi demonstration and may already perform at levels comparable to, if not better than, average human drivers.
The team also met with Tesla leaders for more than an hour to discuss autonomy, chip development, and upcoming deployment plans.
Analysts highlight autonomy progress
During more than 75 minutes of focused discussions, analysts reportedly focused on FSD v14’s updates. Piper Sandler’s team pointed to meaningful strides in perception, object handling, and overall ride smoothness during the robotaxi demo.
The visit also included discussions on updates to Tesla’s in-house chip initiatives, its Optimus program, and the growth of the company’s battery storage business. Analysts noted that Tesla continues refining cost structures and capital expenditure expectations, which are key elements in future margin recovery, as noted in a Yahoo Finance report.
Analyst Alexander Potter noted that “we think FSD is a truly impressive product that is (probably) already better at driving than the average American.” This conclusion was strengthened by what he described as a “flawless robotaxi ride to the hotel.”
-->Street targets diverge on TSLA
While Piper Sandler stands by its $500 target, it is not the highest estimate on the Street. Wedbush, for one, has a $600 per share price target for TSLA stock.
Other institutions have also weighed in on TSLA stock as of late. HSBC reiterated a Reduce rating with a $131 target, citing a gap between earnings fundamentals and the company’s market value. By contrast, TD Cowen maintained a Buy rating and a $509 target, pointing to strong autonomous driving demonstrations in Austin and the pace of software-driven improvements.
Stifel analysts also lifted their price target for Tesla to $508 per share over the company’s ongoing robotaxi and FSD programs.
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