Investor's Corner
TSLA’s resilience in the stock market is partly due to the ‘Tesla Killers” failure
To say that the last few months have been a roller coaster ride for Tesla is an understatement. Just a few months ago, Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) was closing in on trading below $250 per share, and it was being bashed by a continuous stream of criticism from Wall Street. One analyst even called Tesla “no longer investable” due to Elon Musk’s behavior on Twitter. Short-sellers bet on a dramatic drop, with one stating that it was apparent “Tesla is having difficulties paying their bills.”
And yet, no dramatic drop happened. The company surprised Wall Street by posting $6.8 billion in revenue in the third quarter instead, and the stock has been up since then. Today, TSLA is trading near the $370 level, close to the highs it achieved on the day Elon Musk posted his now-infamous “funding secured” tweet. After a year of volatility, Tesla stock is up nearly 18% as of Wednesday’s close. That’s quite notable, considering that the S&P 500 is down 1.4% this year so far.
Apart from the company’s improving fundamentals, a good part of the Tesla narrative today is the company’s lead in the electric car market. One of the most notable bear thesis against the company is the notion that once legacy automakers decide to dip their feet into the production of EVs, Tesla would be overwhelmed and outgunned. Several automakers did release their first premium all-electric cars this year. But instead of overwhelming Tesla with their expertise (hence the term “Tesla Killer”), legacy auto’s first EVs have fallen short of the standards set by the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker.
In a recent note, Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch admonished traditional carmakers and their electric creations, stating that they present what could be described as a “slow and disappointing” competition for Tesla. JMP Securities analyst Joseph Osha was a bit more direct than Rusch, remarking that “It is incredible to me, at the end of 2018, that the major automakers still haven’t figured out how to respond competitively to Tesla.”
Tesla’s vehicles compete on the luxury segment, where brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi are reigning. This year, three notable premium electric cars emerged by legacy carmakers — the Mercedes-Benz EQC, the Audi e-tron, and the Jaguar I-PACE — and while each is an admirable vehicle on their own, the EVs themselves include flaws that make them inferior to Tesla. Both the EQC and the e-tron incited questions about their real range when the vehicles were unveiled, and the Jaguar I-PACE, despite being well-received by critics, is far less efficient than an older Tesla Model X.
Tesla’s lead in the electric car segment was even acknowledged by UBS, which has a history of taking a bearish stance on the electric car maker. Following a teardown of the vehicle and a comparison between the Model 3 and competitors like the BMW i3 and the Chevy Bolt, UBS concluded that instead of being the underdog in the EV market, “Tesla has won the race and leads the championship,” thanks to its superior battery, powertrain, and overall tech.
As Tesla approaches the end of what could be yet another impressive quarter, the company continues to garner votes of confidence from Wall Street. Just recently, Baird analyst Ben Kallo reiterated his “Outperform” rating on TSLA stock while raising his price target from $411 to $465. Kallo cited the strengthening narrative surrounding the company, which changed from negative to positive in recent months.
“We believe the narrative will continue to change from ‘TSLA will never make money’ to ‘TSLA can be sustainably profitable,’” Kallo wrote in a note Thursday. “The narrative on TSLA, particularly in the middle of 2018, was as negative as we have experienced in our coverage, but we believe sentiment will continue to improve as the company proves it can be self-supportive, which should drive sustained share appreciation,” Kallo wrote.
With competitors only highlighting Tesla’s lead in the EV market, the potential of Tesla in the global stage remains vast. The Model 3 alone, which continues to sell well despite the US’ preference for pickup trucks and SUVs, is expected to be popular in Europe, whose sedan market is notably larger than that of America. With these factors in play, as well as the absence of notable competition from fellow luxury carmakers in the near future, the next year could prove to be one impressive ride for Tesla.
As of writing, Tesla is trading +1.20% at $371.01 per share.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
In a pointed message on X, Elon Musk warned that firms maintaining significant short positions in SpaceX over time face “very low” survival probability.
The statement comes amid post-IPO volatility for the rocket company, now trading under the ticker $SPCX.
The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2026
Five weeks after what was described as the largest IPO in history, the stock had fallen roughly 30% from its peak above $2.6 trillion, briefly surpassing Microsoft and Amazon in market value. Short sellers celebrated gains of about $8.7 billion, but Musk’s reply underscores his long-term conviction.
The warning directly echoes a detailed bullish analysis arguing that Starship’s cost reductions could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar space economy. Projects ranging from solar power beamed from orbit and asteroid mining to orbital data centers and Mars terraforming were projected to create over $100 trillion in new market capitalization.
In this vision, SpaceX acts as the essential infrastructure provider, akin to AWS for cloud computing, capturing monopoly-like revenues from launches, crew transport, and data traffic across a rapidly expanding frontier.
This is far from the first time Musk has targeted short sellers. With Tesla, he has repeatedly framed persistent bears as destined for major losses. In July 2024, Musk declared that once Tesla achieves full autonomy and volume production of Optimus robots, “anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates,” referencing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ reported short bets.
Elon Musk reveals what Tesla stock surge could do to Bill Gates
Earlier, in 2018, he taunted shorts that they had “about three weeks before their short position explodes,” a remark followed by sharp stock gains. Musk has also called short selling “value destroying” and once suggested it “should be illegal,” viewing it as betting against innovation and progress.
Critics often dismiss Musk’s optimism as hype, especially when near-term metrics like quarterly deliveries or stock fluctuations disappoint.
Yet his pattern remains consistent: framing short positions against his companies as fundamentally misjudging exponential technological leaps. For SpaceX shorts, the message is clear: betting against multi-planetary ambitions and the infrastructure monopoly they enable carries existential risk for the firms involved.
As Musk and supporters see it, the space economy’s upside dwarfs Earth-bound valuation models, making today’s dips temporary in a decades-long ascent.
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.
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