Investor's Corner
Ron Baron on Tesla $TSLA stock: ‘Now is the bottom’
Legendary investor and Tesla bull Ron Baron believes the electric automaker’s stock is set to see massive gains as the introduction of Robotaxi and a new vehicle lineup is imminent.
“Now is the bottom,” Baron said during an interview with Squawk Box on CNBC earlier today.
Baron has been one of the biggest winners in terms of Tesla stock ownership, seeing his portfolio increase by multitudes over the past several years and holding over $1.5 billion in shares at one point.
However, as the stock has felt some pressure over the past year and a half, being up only 1 percent compared to a year ago and down 32 percent since the beginning of 2024, Baron believes the only way to go now is up.
“It’s going to go up huge,” Baron said. When he was asked when this would happen, his answer was simple: “Now.”
As Tesla is trading at around $166 on Thursday morning during early trading hours, it has gone up the past two days, fending off bearish tones that mention slowing demand, increasing vehicle inventories, and a loss of market share in regions like China and Europe.
Tesla’s Q1 2024 Earnings Call seemed to put some rest to the questions that lie before it. When will a dedicated Robotaxi be released? How far is Tesla from solving Full Self-Driving? How will Tesla compete with automakers that have released affordable models that are comparable to their best-sellers that are not as competitively priced?
Robotaxi and Solving FSD
Tesla announced recently that it would unveil a dedicated Robotaxi vehicle on August 8. Based on an experience he recently had with the company in California, Baron believes the Robotaxi will be capable of driving people around without any human intervention.
He requested to see Steve Jobs’ house from Tesla’s Hawthorne Design Studio in Los Angeles. He claims that several others joined him in the car, and the vehicle drove him to Jobs’ former residence without any human intervention, handling things like a pedestrian waving the vehicle on and other challenging scenarios.
He believes Robotaxi will be coming soon.
Affordable Models
Tesla said in its Q1 2024 Shareholder Deck that it had ultimately decided to launch a new, updated vehicle lineup that will help accelerate the launch of new models ahead of previously planned timelines, which hinted toward a late 2025 production start.
Including a blend of both the existing and next-generation platforms, the new vehicle lineup will feature affordable models and will be able to be manufactured on existing production lines.
Tesla updates future vehicle lineup — and it will arrive sooner than expected
“This update may result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected,” Tesla wrote, “but enables us to prudently grow our vehicle volumes in a more capex efficient manner during uncertain times.”
Baron’s Other Thoughts
Baron kept the same tone regarding selling Tesla shares as he has for years: none are going anywhere.
He believes the stock will increase substantially, and the catalysts of Robotaxi and Full Self-Driving will be the main drivers of an increase in valuation for Tesla, aligning with the idea that the company is not an automaker and should be looked at in terms of software.
Today’s full video of Ron Baron talking $TSLA
“It’s gonna go up huge. Now is the bottom.” pic.twitter.com/FshULylNy6
— Christopher Dungeon (@ChrisDungeon) April 25, 2024
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Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Tesla enters two new markets on two different continents in one week
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
