

Investor's Corner
Tesla sued by JPMorgan over Musk’s 2018 ‘funding secured’ Tweet
Tesla is being sued by JP Morgan Chase in a massive $162 million lawsuit over stock warrants linked to CEO Elon Musk’s infamous “funding secured” Tweet from 2018 when Musk hinted toward taking the company private at $420.
Court filings made public on Monday and reported by Barron’s showed JPMorgan Chase is alleging Tesla of branching a contract in regards to the repricing of warrants. Following Musk’s Tweet in 2018 that hinted he was thinking of taking Tesla private at $420 per share, the stock responded with volatility, which caused losses. JPMorgan Chase’s lawsuit outlines a potential payout of $162.2 million, plus interest, fees, and expenses.
JPMorgan filed the complaint in the Southern District of New York, and details a contract with Tesla where the automaker was legally obliged to deliver shares or cash if the stock price passed certain levels by a certain time. This is known as a “strike price.” Barron’s said this was a stock warrant transaction, which is similar to stock options contracts available to retail investors.
The lawsuit’s most critical point is that Tesla did not deliver the cash or shares. JPMorgan was forced to reprice the stock warrants after Musk Tweeted, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. Shareholders could either to sell at 420 or hold shares & go private.”
Shareholders could either to sell at 420 or hold shares & go private
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Musk’s Tweet resulted in a settlement with the SEC, which required the CEO to step down as Tesla’s Chairman, pay a $20 million penalty, appoint two new independent directors to the Tesla board, and “establish a new committee of independent directors and put in place additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk’s communications.”
The Tweets spiked Tesla’s stock price, which, in turn, caused JPMorgan to readjust the value of the warrants. After Musk and Tesla confirmed a few weeks later that the stock would not be taken private, JPMorgan readjusted the value of the warrants once again. Tesla sold warrants to JPMorgan with provisions that protected both entities from potential volatility that could come from significant corporate transactions, according to JPMorgan. The provisions gave the banking firm the right to adjust and readjust the warrants in cases of significant announcements that could cause stock movement. JPMorgan said the provisions were put in to protect both parties from “exactly the type” of announcement that Musk Tweeted.
Tesla, however, did not take kindly to JPMorgan repricing the warrants and stated that the bank’s move was “unreasonably swift and represented an opportunistic attempt to take advantage of changes in volatility in Tesla’s stock,” according to a letter that was included in the filing.
Credit: Tobias Lindh/Youtube
JPMorgan did not readjust the strike price following the second modification, the filing said, as the warrants expired in June and July 2021. Tesla’s stock rose nearly 900% from the 2018 Tweet to the end of July 2021, most of the growth taking place during 2020, when TSLA shares rose over 700%. The prices were above the original and readjusted strike prices.
The lawsuit said that Tesla and the bank have agreed that the automaker should settle the undisputed number of shares earlier in 2021. However, Tesla is still uneasy with the fact JPMorgan readjusted the strike prices, but JPMorgan said that failure to settle the adjusted strike price could conclude with a default. JPMorgan’s suit said Tesla failed to deliver 228,775 shares, meaning the bank is stuck with an open hedge position that equals the shortfall. “Even though JPMorgan’s adjustments were appropriate and contractually required, Tesla has refused to settle at the contractual strike price and pay in full what it owes to JPMorgan,” the firm said in its complaint. “As a result, more than $162 million is immediately due and payable to JPMorgan by Tesla.”
The case, JPMorgan Chase Bank v. Tesla Inc., 21-cv-09441, is available to read here.
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Investor's Corner
Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.
The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.
However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:
Back to working 7 days a week and sleeping in the office if my little kids are away https://t.co/77cc6sRCFZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025
Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.
Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo
These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:
“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”
Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.
In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:
“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”
Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.
The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.
Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.
- Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
- What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
- What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
- Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
- When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
- Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
- Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
- Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
- Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
- When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?
Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.
Investor's Corner
Tesla still poised to earn $3B in ZEV credits this year: Piper Sandler
Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter maintained his $400 per share price target on TSLA stock.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is still poised to earn about $3 billion in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) credits this year despite growing concerns over policy shifts under United States President Donald Trump. This is, at least, according to Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter, who maintained his $400 per share price target and “Overweight” rating on TSLA stock.
Tesla’s ZEV credit revenue
In a recent investor note, Potter acknowledged that Trump’s efforts to undo EV-related incentives could impact Tesla’s ZEV credit income. The analyst noted that these effects would likely not be too drastic, however, even if ZEV credits provide Tesla’s finances with a substantial boost. Last year, Tesla earned about $3.5 billion from regulatory credits, equal to nearly 100% of the company’s FY24 free cash flow, as noted in a Benzinga report.
Potter estimated that the impact of potential regulatory reversals from the Trump administration will likely not be immediate. “Tesla will still book around $3B in credits this year, followed by $2.3B in 2026,” the Piper Sandler analyst wrote.
Considering his reiterated $400 price target for Tesla stock, Potter seems to be expecting an upside of over 20% for the electric vehicle maker. It should be noted, however, that Tesla is a volatile stock by nature, so huge swings in stock price may happen even without material developments from the company.
Robotaxi developments
The Piper Sandler analyst also highlighted the progress of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) program and Robotaxi developments as potential offsets to regulatory headwinds. Potter pointed to expanding operations in Austin and Tesla’s push to launch Robotaxi services in Phoenix and the Bay Area, pending regulatory approval.
“In our view, these favorable FSD-related developments are likely to overshadow any/all negative commentary arising from lower 2025/2026 estimates,” the analyst wrote.
In addition to rescinding ZEV programs, the Trump administration has proposed ending the $7,500 federal EV credit by September 2025 and rolling back Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
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