Investor's Corner
Tesla Mid-Range Model 3 production ramp kicks off with 4.5k RWD VIN registrations
As Tesla heads towards its earlier-than-expected Q3 2018 earnings call, the company’s Model 3 production ramp continues to show signs that it is going smoothly. Just yesterday, Tesla registered another large batch of 4,500 new Model 3 VINs, all of which appear to be RWD versions of the electric sedan. Tesla had also registered 38,211 Model 3 since the beginning of October, setting up the company for what could very well be a record month in terms of new Model 3 VIN registrations.
#Tesla registered 4,500 new #Model3 VINs. ~0% estimated to be dual motor. Highest VIN is 156129. https://t.co/cw9lfjMZDw
— Model 3 VINs (@Model3VINs) October 22, 2018
While Tesla’s VIN registrations do not specifically list the cars’ Long Range or Mid Range battery, the company’s push for the MR version and the absence of the LR variant in the Model 3 configurator do suggest that the latest VIN filings correspond to the Mid Range Model 3 RWD. With this new batch, Twitter’s Model 3 VIN tracking group @Model3VINs notes that Tesla had registered a total of 156,129 Model 3 VINs to date.
Tesla’s new Model 3 VIN filings come at a time when the company is pushing the electric car’s newest variant — the Mid Range Model 3 RWD — to reservation holders. Musk seems to have teased the vehicle on the social media platform a day before it was officially announced, stating that a “lemur” was coming. Neither Tesla nor Elon Musk has announced the reasons behind the lemur reference, though the little primate might be a clever play on the LEMR variation of the electric car (Limited Edition Mid Range, perhaps?).
Considering that the Mid Range RWD variant is a vehicle that puts Tesla one step closer to the $35,000 Standard trim Model 3, the new electric car variant could very well see a lot of demand. The Mid Range Model 3 RWD currently has an estimated delivery time of 6-10 weeks, after all, which would allow buyers to take delivery of the vehicle at a time when Tesla’s full $7,500 Federal Tax Credit is still in full effect. Taking the $7,500 tax credit and estimated gas savings into account, Tesla’s Mid Range Model 3 RWD has an estimated cost of ownership in the $33,200 range.
Tesla’s decision to offer a Mid Range variant to the Model 3 could be seen as a strategic move by the electric car maker. The vehicle, after all, takes advantage of its remaining $7,500 federal tax credit to lower the vehicle’s total cost of ownership. Elon Musk’s later tweets also revealed that the introduction of the new electric car variant would likely not weigh down the Model 3 production ramp either, as the Mid Range Model 3 RWD uses the same battery pack as the Long Range RWD version, albeit with fewer battery cells.
It’s a long range battery with fewer cells. Non-cell portion of the pack is disproportionately high, but we can get it done now instead of ~February
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2018
The Mid Range Model 3 RWD represents a $4,000 price savings from the Long Range RWD variant that starts at $49,000 before incentives. There are some performance compromises with the Mid Range Model 3 RWD, though, in the form of a 0-60 mph time of 5.6 seconds, a top speed of 125 mph, and a driving range of 260 miles per charge. In comparison, the Long Range Model 3 RWD has a 5.1-second 0-60 time, a top speed of 140 mph, and a range of 310 miles per charge.
The introduction of the Mid Range Model 3 RWD could ultimately be a way for Tesla to boost its production and delivery numbers further this Q4. The company set the bar high in Q3 with its record deliveries and production figures, after all, and it would take even more impressive numbers for the company to become profitable in the fourth quarter. With this in mind, the Mid Range Model 3 RWD could very well be the catalyst for Tesla’s profitability this Q4, due to its potential to attract budget-conscious reservation holders waiting for low-cost versions of the vehicle.
Tesla has announced that it would be holding its Q3 earnings call on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. The live Q&A session is set for 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to accommodate requests from several analysts.
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
