Investor's Corner
Elon Musk is reportedly looking to tie up less of his wealth in Twitter deal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly speaking to large investment firms and other high net-worth individuals about contributing more money to his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter. The firms and others Musk is speaking to could take on more financing in the deal, which would tie up less of his wealth in the acquisition, a new report from Reuters said.
Musk, who is the world’s richest individual, disclosed last week that he had sold around $8.5 billion in Tesla stock to fund the Twitter deal. Most of Musk’s incredible $245 billion net worth is tied up in his Tesla shares. After Musk offloaded some of his holdings last week, Tesla shares fell nearly 13 percent for the five-day stretch.
According to the Reuters report, new financing for the Twitter deal could come in the form of preferred or common equity and could reduce the $21 billion in cash Musk has committed to the $44 billion price tag and the margin loan he leveraged against his holdings, sources said. Musk also pledged some of the Tesla shares he owns to banks in return for a $12.5 billion margin loan, which helped fund the deal. The margin loan could be trimmed based on the new investor interest in the deal financing.
Musk is reportedly speaking to private equity firms, hedge funds, and other wealthy individuals about preferred equity financing for the acquisition, sources said. The preferred equity firms would pay a fixed dividend from Twitter, similar to the way a bond or loan pays regular interest. However, the interest would appreciate in line with the equity value of Twitter when Musk eventually assumes the company when the deal is finalized. One thing seems to be for sure: Musk is not willing to take on more debt for the Twitter deal at the current time.
Twitter’s major shareholders, including Jack Dorsey, who was CEO until last year and is a co-founder of the platform, have also been in contact with Musk about potentially rolling their stake into the deal rather than cashing out their holdings. Dorsey may roll his stake into the investment, as he spoke highly of Musk taking over Twitter and said, “Elon is the singular solution I trust” for improving the social network’s operations.
Fidelity is one of the large institutional investors Musk is in talks with, and also has had internal talks about rolling its stake.
Some investors have urged Musk to back out of the deal. Analysts bullish on Tesla have contributed last week’s losses to Musk’s $TSLA stake being trimmed due to the Twitter deal’s financing. “This is big if it materializes as we believe the Twitter deal has been a $100+ per share overhang on Tesla’s stock due to the Musk financing concerns/shares tied up,” Dan Ives of Wedbush said about Musk possibly looking for more investors.
Tesla shares up on Reuters article saying Musk seeking partners for financing on Twitter deal. This is big if it materializes as we believe the Twitter deal has been a $100+ per share overhang on Tesla’s stock due to the Musk financing concerns/shares tied up.
— Dan Ives (@DivesTech) May 2, 2022
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
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Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
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.
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