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Tesla critic Jim Cramer turns into full-on bull: ‘TSLA has all the ingredients of a winner’
Tesla has a new convert as tough critic Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money turns from an agnostic skeptic to an outright bull on the electric carmaker’s stock (NASDAQ:TSLA). The Mad Money host declared that he is now a true believer in Tesla, which he classifies as a battleground stock.
“All my career I have been fascinated by companies with vociferous bulls and ferocious bears, if only because they can be so entertaining,” Cramer said.
For the uninitiated, battleground stocks are those that attract strong, polarizing opinions from different sides. “First, they are cultish, meaning that there are people who love the product, not the earnings and the product transcends simple analysis. You can’t put a price to earnings ratio on cool, on but you might buy cool and therefore want to buy the stock. That had been my stance for years on Tesla,” said Cramer.
Cramer shared a story of how his wife and daughter helped convinced him to believe in Tesla. About three months ago, his daughter drove a Model 3 from Oregon to San Francisco. Within 100 miles of the 600-mile trip, he was surprised to get a call from his daughter, who was raving about how it was nice being behind the wheel of the electric vehicle. His daughter told him to “buy one.”
On another occasion, Cramer was with his wife and they tried a Model X following an endorsement from another couple. He confessed that he adored the Falcon Wing doors and the quality of the drive. Cramer’s wife also convinced him to buy Tesla’s Solar Roof. The unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck also caught the attention of Cramer. While he labeled the press conference as close to a disaster following the vehicle’s failed “Armor Glass” demo, the demand following the unveiling of the all-electric pickup truck stunned the TV personality.
The second issue, according to Cramer, about battleground stocks is their financials. “The really Verdun-like slugfests tend to have terrible balance sheets, ones that can’t be fixed by simple operating earnings and instead need genuine manna from heaven to cure themselves of the concerns,” Cramer said.
However, he consulted one of the most skeptical CFOs in the world, who said this about Tesla. “The company could raise two billion dollars in a heartbeat,” he said. Cramer took note of how even TSLA bears recognize that Tesla may have a breakout as soon as next year.
Lastly, the former hedge fund manager considered how battleground stocks tend to have charismatic leaders.
The Mad Money host weighed in how Tesla CEO Elon Musk fascinates him. “He’s a walking charisma machine, alternately entertaining and fun-loving and critical to the point of scathing, like someone else I know, yours truly. Sometimes I think he gives me a run for my money as the most sincerely insincere man in North America, other times he’s just a worldwide true believer,” he said.
Cramer dislikes Musk for tweeting like crazy and how the Tesla CEO taunted analysts, though he stated that he has since tempered down his stance. “All of that ended though when he agreed as part of some weirdo SEC ruling to stop the incendiary tweeting and, on the last conference call he revealed his true rigor without the sardonic quips. That made me realize that he will have no problem negotiating with either the Chinese government for his Gigafactory built in record time or the coming gargantuan German factory for that matter,” Cramer noted.
To end, the Mad Money host summarized his points, “So, cult product? Check. Balance sheet? Check. Leader? Check. If you’re going to invest in a battleground stock, TSLA has all the ingredients of a winner.”
As Cramer announced his conversion to a TSLA believer, others have corroborated his analysis. ARK Invest founder and CEO Catherine Wood foresees Tesla stock to at least double by 2024. “We have our ‘bear price,’ five-year target as $700. That would be if they lost two-thirds of market shares and had no autonomous vehicles,” she said in an interview.
Last month, Canadian businessman and Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary, who has also been critical of Tesla stock, also changed his stance and invested in the electric car maker after seeing a potential path to profitability.
TSLA stock has also been showing some strength following the positive reports from China hinting that the deliveries of Made-in-China Model 3 units are imminent. Interest in the Tesla Cybertruck has also remained strong weeks after its unveiling.
On Wednesday, Tesla shares closed at $352.70, gaining 1.11%.
Here’s the full video of the Mad Money segment where host Jim Cramer explained how he became a true believer in Tesla:
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
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Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions
The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end with no interventions.
A Tesla Model S has completed the first-ever full Cannonball Run using Full Self-Driving (FSD), traveling from Los Angeles to New York with zero interventions. The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end, fulfilling a long-discussed benchmark for autonomy.
A full FSD Cannonball Run
As per a report from The Drive, a 2024 Tesla Model S with AI4 and FSD v14.2.2.3 completed the 3,081-mile trip from Redondo Beach in Los Angeles to midtown Manhattan in New York City. The drive was completed by Alex Roy, a former automotive journalist and investor, along with a small team of autonomy experts.
Roy said FSD handled all driving tasks for the entirety of the route, including highway cruising, lane changes, navigation, and adverse weather conditions. The trip took a total of 58 hours and 22 minutes at an average speed of 64 mph, and about 10 hours were spent charging the vehicle. In later comments, Roy noted that he and his team cleaned out the Model S’ cameras during their stops to keep FSD’s performance optimal.
History made
The historic trip was quite impressive, considering that the journey was in the middle of winter. This meant that FSD didn’t just deal with other cars on the road. The vehicle also had to handle extreme cold, snow, ice, slush, and rain.
As per Roy in a post on X, FSD performed so well during the trip that the journey would have been completed faster if the Model S did not have people onboard. “Elon Musk was right. Once an autonomous vehicle is mature, most human input is error. A comedy of human errors added hours and hundreds of miles, but FSD stunned us with its consistent and comfortable behavior,” Roy wrote in a post on X.
Roy’s comments are quite notable as he has previously attempted Cannonball Runs using FSD on December 2024 and February 2025. Neither were zero intervention drives.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (Unsupervised FSD),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
