Investor's Corner
Tesla’s experience in electric cars emphasized anew after Mercedes EQC reveal
Earlier today, Tesla stock was given a Sell rating by Goldman Sachs, citing the arrival of competitors from established automakers. Some of these competitors are dubbed as “Tesla Killers,” such as the Jaguar I-PACE and the Mercedes-Benz EQC. The financial firm’s renewed Sell rating on Tesla appears to have affected the sentiment of some investors, resulting in TSLA stock ending the day down 4.21% at $288.95 per share.
Earlier today, the electric car industry also welcomed its latest vehicle from legacy automaker Mercedes-Benz. At an event in Stockholm, Sweden, Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche unveiled the Mercedes-Benz EQC, an all-electric crossover SUV that symbolizes the company’s commitment to the upcoming electrification of the transport industry.
“There is no alternative to betting on electric cars, and we’re going all in. It is starting right now,” Zetsche said.
Mercedes-Benz tried hard with the EQC, with Zetsche stating that the vehicle will be profitable, and that it would “offer the best package” compared to rivals. The EQC also looks very much like a conventional Merc SUV, with its almost understated lines, its high ground clearance, and its tough stance. The EQC’s basic specs are quite decent, with two electric motors that produce 402 hp and 564 lb-ft of torque. The SUV can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds and hit a top speed of around 112 mph. That being said, the Mercedes-Benz EQC’s range and production date ultimately prove that it won’t be so easy for legacy automakers to gain EV expertise that is comparable to Tesla’s.
The Mercedes-Benz EQC is equipped with an 80 kWh battery pack, which puts its size between the base Model X’s 75 kWh battery pack and the Jaguar I-PACE’s 90 kWh battery. Despite its generous battery size, the EQC’s estimated range is very conservative at around 200 miles per charge. Charging the vehicle from 10% to 80% is also estimated to take around 40 minutes. The EQC’s apparent lack of range has not gone unnoticed. Alex Roy, a veteran of the auto industry, for one, noted that the EQC’s range was a big “miss” for the established German automaker.
In a way, this could be attributed to Mercedes-Benz’s lack of experience in designing and building all-electric cars. And it’s not just Mercedes-Benz, either. Jaguar’s I-PACE is listed with a 240-mile range, but informal, real-world tests online have noted that the vehicle’s battery consumption is quite high. The same could be true for the EQC. It might have a big enough battery, but it could prove to be the electric equivalent of a gas guzzler.
This is something that Tesla has refined over the years. Elon Musk has opted to develop Tesla’s battery packs and even its software in-house, allowing the company to create vehicles that just work. In terms of range, Tesla’s cars usually come very close to their rated range, in some instances even exceeding it. Even the Model X 75D — one of Tesla’s largest, heaviest offerings — could go as far as 237 miles with a 75 kWh battery. Tesla’s progress in developing and building electric cars ultimately cannot be discounted, as Volkswagen AG, a prominent German automaker, was one of the investors willing to help fund Tesla’s attempted privatization.
Another notable detail from the Mercedes-Benz EQC’s unveiling that validated Tesla’s experience in building electric cars is the German-made SUV’s production timeline. Mercedes expects to start manufacturing the EQC sometime next year, with deliveries beginning in 2020. Compared to Tesla’s hyper-aggressive timetables, Mercedes-Benz’s timeline is very conservative, especially considering that the automaker is looking to build the EQC in some of its existing facilities.
A Tesla Model 3 being assembled.
There is very little doubt that Tesla is the company that ultimately made electric cars desirable, proving to consumers that battery-powered vehicles are actually realistic alternatives to fossil fuel-powered cars. Since starting the production of the Tesla Roadster, the company has gained a lot of experience, a lot of it coming from trial and error. Over the years, Tesla has refined its battery technology, to the point where the company is now attempting to hit a battery pack cost of $100 per kWh. Its 2170 cells that power the Model 3 are also proving to be impressive, with Detroit veteran Sandy Munro praising it as some of the finest batteries he has ever analyzed.
A central part of the Tesla Killer thesis is that competitors from established automakers can easily catch up and overtake the California-based company with vehicles that are far superior in quality and performance. If the range and estimated delivery date of the Mercedes-Benz EQC are any indication, it appears that the arrival of these competitors might be just a little bit too late. After all, by 2020, Tesla is planning to start the production of the next-generation Tesla Roadster, a supercar to end all supercars. The Tesla Model Y, a CUV expected to be even more popular than the Model 3, would likely be in production by then as well.
Watch the Mercedes-Benz EQC’s unveiling in the video below.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) endured one of its sharpest single-day declines in years on July 23, tumbling approximately 14.5 percent and closing near $320 after opening the session around $374. The drop erased more than $140 billion in market value amid heavy trading volume and left the shares at multi-week lows.
The sell-off followed the company’s second-quarter 2026 results, released the previous evening. Tesla reported record revenue of $28.2 billion, up 26 percent year over year, driven by a Q2-record 480,126 vehicle deliveries. Energy storage deployments also rose strongly.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Yet profitability disappointed sharply. Operating income fell 57 percent to $398 million, compressing the operating margin to just 1.4 percent. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.33, well below the roughly $0.53 analysts had expected. Free cash flow turned negative by $1.1 billion as capital expenditures surged 142 percent to $5.8 billion, largely tied to accelerated spending on artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems.
The losses on capex were expected, as Tesla said it would be spending heavily in 2026.
Investors also reacted to lingering uncertainty surrounding key product timelines. During the Earnings Call, management reiterated ambitions for Robotaxi deployment and the Optimus humanoid robot, but offered limited new concrete milestones, renewing questions about execution pace that have long accompanied Tesla’s ambitious roadmap.
The magnitude of the decline places it among Tesla’s more severe one-day percentage losses since its 2010 initial public offering. Historically, the two largest single-day drops (split-adjusted) remain September 8, 2020, when shares fell 21.1 percent amid broader market volatility and valuation concerns, and January 13, 2012, with a 19.3 percent plunge during the company’s early growth struggles.
Other notable declines include an 18.6 percent drop on March 16, 2020, at the onset of pandemic-related market turmoil. Thursday’s move ranks roughly ninth on the all-time list but stands out as the steepest in more than a year.
Despite the short-term pain, Tesla’s long-term trajectory has repeatedly recovered from such volatility. The latest results underscore both the strength of its core automotive and energy businesses and the near-term costs of heavy investment in next-generation technologies.
In a striking revelation that underscores the lucrative crossover between Big Tech and space exploration, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, disclosed a massive $94.1 billion equity stake in SpaceX following the rocket company’s blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year.
The disclosure came in Alphabet’s quarterly filing, marking the first time the long-held private investment has been publicly valued at market prices. Google was an early backer, investing alongside Fidelity in 2015 with roughly $500-900 million at a time when SpaceX was valued around $12 billion.
That bet has delivered extraordinary returns, roughly a hundredfold, transforming a strategic play on satellite internet and launch capabilities into one of Alphabet’s largest assets.
Google, $GOOGL, has said they hold $94 billion in SpaceX, $SPCX, shares after IPO.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 23, 2026
Of the total holding, approximately $80 billion remains subject to short-term post-IPO lockup restrictions, preventing near-term sales. An additional $14.1 billion faces longer-term restrictions, extending into the third quarter of 2027. This structure limits immediate liquidity but protects against market volatility as SpaceX transitions into public trading.
The SpaceX position contributed significantly to gains in Alphabet’s broader investment portfolio, which also includes a major stake in AI leader Anthropic. Combined, these holdings helped drive nearly $100 billion in investment gains during the second quarter, providing a substantial boost to net income amid ongoing AI spending pressures.
Analysts view the disclosure as validation of Alphabet’s venture strategy beyond its core search and cloud businesses. The investment aligns with deeper ties, including reported multi-billion-dollar deals for AI computing capacity on SpaceX infrastructure. As SpaceX advances Starship flights, Starlink expansion, and ambitious Mars goals under Elon Musk, Google’s stake positions it to benefit from the commercialization of space.
For Alphabet, the windfall highlights how patient, forward-looking bets in transformative sectors can yield outsized rewards. While lockups temper short-term impact, the holding cements SpaceX as a cornerstone of Alphabet’s diversified portfolio in an era where aerospace, AI, and connectivity increasingly intersect. Investors will watch closely as restrictions lift and SpaceX’s public performance unfolds.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
