Investor's Corner
‘Tesla will be great long-term,’ Musk says as stock slide continues
Tesla CEO Elon Musk affirmed his confidence in the electric automaker by stating it will be great long-term, despite the stock slide that continues to affect shares.
Tesla shares (NASDAQ: TSLA) have slid considerably in 2022, along with many other automotive and technology stocks. On Tuesday, the decrease continued as the stock reached levels as low as $156.91. At the time of writing, shares were trading at $161.35, down 3.86 percent on the day.
Amongst a broader market decline, Tesla shares have been affected by various external factors this year. Along with Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter earlier this year, which has Tesla loyalists divided, the company has experienced an increase in competition due to more models and manufacturers entering the sector, and supply chain issues still stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once worth $1 trillion, Tesla has declined to a valuation that is worth roughly half of that. While the second-most valuable car company, Toyota, is only worth around $197 billion, Tesla still holds the title of the most valuable automaker on Earth.
Musk: Tesla will be great long-term
In a response to WholeMarsBlog, Musk said, “Tesla will be great long-term, but doesn’t control macroeconomic tides.”
Tesla will be great long-term, but doesn’t control macroeconomic tides
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2022
From a macro perspective, Musk is right. Tesla is up over 600 percent in the past five years. Over the past year, a fifty percent decrease in stock price has been the much more surfaced trend amongst media outlets, but the company has not been the only automaker to experience a rough 2022. Nevertheless, the debate regarding what to do with holdings still rages on.
Tesla Shares: Buy or Sell
Discussions amongst Tesla community members have been polarizing, with many die-hards sticking to their plan to hold shares. Jason DeBolt, who is one of the most notable Teslanaires, retired from his corporate job at the age of 39 thanks to his earnings through Tesla stock. Although the company is still being affected by a broader market decline, DeBolt has considered loading up even more shares.
I’m down $11 million on $TSLA since last year and I’m more bullish on Tesla than ever.
I’m seriously considering selling my house to buy more shares. Like wtf.
Tesla will continue growing revenue 50% annually (as it has since 2014), and profits will grow even faster than that.
— Jason DeBolt ⚡️ (@jasondebolt) December 8, 2022
Others, however, are unwilling to ride the wave and have either decided to sell because of market conditions or because of personal opinions on Musk.
Cancelling my @Tesla Model X order that’s been unfulfilled for over a year now and selling my TSLA stock. They need a cancel option that simply says “Elon Musk”. I won’t give my money to someone that no longer shares the same values I hold important. Likely he never held them. pic.twitter.com/yhxSgJUxZw
— Tom Kulzer (@tkulzer) December 13, 2022
Tesla’s 2022 Performance…and others
Tesla’s 59.68 percent decrease in 2022 defies all of the things the company has accomplished for the year. It opened two new production facilities, expanded global production capacity to well over one million vehicles, and is set to deliver over one million cars in a year for the first time.
Tesla launched the Semi last month, adding to its penetrable markets through commercial projects. The company still overwhelmingly leads the U.S. market share for EVs, so what’s the issue?
Tesla, while it has much more to worry about than just building cars and energy systems, is not the only car company experiencing a downturn this year. Tesla shares are down 59.88 percent this year, but here’s how others are doing in 2022:
- Ford stock: $F – down 37.99% this year
- General Motors stock: $GM – down 36.91% this year
- Rivian stock: $RIVN – down 75.63% this year
- Lucid stock: $LCID – down 80.42% this year
- Polestar stock: $PSNY – down 67.38% this year
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder. I do not hold any other automotive stocks currently.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’
“Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session,” Cramer said.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest synopsis from Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer, who finally realized something that many fans of the company have known all along: it’s not a car company. Instead, it’s a robotics company.
In a recent note that was released after Tesla reported Earnings in late January, Cramer seemed to recognize that the underwhelming financials and overall performance of the automotive division were not representative of the current state of affairs.
Instead, we’re seeing a company transition itself away from its early identity, essentially evolving like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
The narrative of the Earnings Call was simple: We’re not a car company, at least not from a birds-eye view. We’re an AI and Robotics company, and we are transitioning to this quicker than most people realize.
Tesla stock gets another analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like it
Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call featured plenty of analysis from CEO Elon Musk and others, and some of the more minor details of the call were even indicative of a company that is moving toward AI instead of its cars. For example, the Model S and Model X will be no more after Q2, as Musk said that they serve relatively no purpose for the future.
Instead, Tesla is shifting its focus to the vehicles catered for autonomy and its Robotaxi and self-driving efforts.
Cramer recognizes this:
“…we got results from Tesla, which actually beat numbers, but nobody cares about the numbers here, as electric vehicles are the past. And according to CEO Elon Musk, the future of this company comes down to Cybercabs and humanoid robots. Stock fell more than 3% the next day. That may be because their capital expenditures budget was higher than expected, or maybe people wanted more details from the new businesses. At this point, I think Musk acolytes might be more excited about SpaceX, which is planning to come public later this year.”
He continued, highlighting the company’s true transition away from vehicles to its Cybercab, Optimus, and AI ambitions:
“I know it’s hard to believe how quickly this market can change its attitude. Last night, I heard a disastrous car company speak. Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session. I didn’t like it as a car company. Boy, I love it as a Cybercab and humanoid robot juggernaut. Call me a buyer and give me five robots while I’m at it.”
Cramer’s narrative seems to fit that of the most bullish Tesla investors. Anyone who is labeled a “permabull” has been echoing a similar sentiment over the past several years: Tesla is not a car company any longer.
Instead, the true focus is on the future and the potential that AI and Robotics bring to the company. It is truly difficult to put Tesla shares in the same group as companies like Ford, General Motors, and others.
Tesla shares are down less than half a percent at the time of publishing, trading at $423.69.
Elon Musk
Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020.
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees
As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay.
As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.
The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.
Other settlement terms still intact
The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million.
Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”
The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.