Investor's Corner
Tesla Model 3 delivery event: Key points investors will be looking for
With the Tesla Model 3 delivery event just days away, Tesla fans everywhere are gearing up for the final roll out of Tesla’s high volume, affordable EV.
Amid the excitement, however, Tesla shares have seen a mercurial run on the market in recent weeks. With many investors betting on Tesla’s future — and many more skeptical buyers shorting it — the Model 3 release will be nothing short of a rubber-meets-the-road moment for CEO Elon Musk and his grand automotive ideas.
Barring any major production or logistical mishaps, the production of the Model 3 is aiming to make a substantive impact on the automotive industry.
The Model 3 event is a defining moment for Musk, Tesla and investors alike. As the launch draws nearer, The Motley Fool introduced a few key features from the Model 3 that Tesla investors and fans need to be aware of.
The range of the Model 3 could put it in direct competition with the Chevy Bolt, which has a reported range of around 238 miles per charge from a 60 kWh battery.
In May, Tesla fans spotted a Model 3 with an estimated range of 310 miles. This model was likely equipped with a 75 kWh battery pack while a baseline Model 3 will achieve a minimum of 215 miles per single charge facilitated by a 60 kWh pack, according to inside sources.
Oh so little faith
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017
In addition to vehicle range, another key point for investors is the Model 3’s access to the Supercharger network. Up until now, charging a Model S or Model X has been free at Supercharger locations. Tesla has announced, however, that all drivers will have to pay a fee cheaper than the cost of gasoline for charging after using over 400 kWh of energy from Superchargers.
Charging costs for the Model 3 remain a question mark ahead of the official roll out date.
Investors will also glean insight from Model 3’s Autopilot pricing model when it’s released. We already know that all Model 3 will be equipped with Autopilot 2.0 hardware as standard equipment, but what’s uncertain is how much customers will need to pay to activate Autopilot. Will Tesla offer “Enhanced Autopilot” as it currently does to Model S and Model X buyers, or will Model 3 only be available with Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving Capability“?
As Daniel Sparks of The Motley Fool points out, Model S and X customers can enable Enhanced Autopilot for $5,000 before delivery and $6,000 afterwards. Buyers have the option to add Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Capability for an additional $3,000 before or after delivery.
The biggest uncertainty that faces Tesla is its projected production ramp-up. Musk will hand over 30 Model 3s at the delivery event on Friday. From there, production will increase exponentially until roughly 10,000 vehicles are produced per week in 2018.
Recent Model 3 sightings have indicated that at least seven Model 3s have already been produced by Tesla.
In the final days leading up to Friday’s Model 3 delivery event, several factors remain important for investors. Production is expected to kick into a higher gear and Musk’s processes and logistics will be tested following the official Model 3 event. For investors, this will be the defining moment on whether Musk’s vision for a high volume, affordable electric car is possible.
The delivery event will also feature presentations from Musk on Tesla’s grand vision for a sustainable future. Teslarati will have live, behind-the-scenes coverage of the launch event. Follow us @Teslarati on Twitter for in-depth coverage of the event.
Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
Investor's Corner
Mizuho keeps Tesla (TSLA) “Outperform” rating but lowers price target
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected.
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh lowered Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) price target to $475 from $485, citing potential 2026 EV subsidy cuts in the U.S. and China that could pressure deliveries. The firm maintained its Outperform rating for the electric vehicle maker, however.
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected. The U.S. accounted for roughly 37% of Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 sales, while China represented about 34%, making both markets highly sensitive to policy shifts. Potential 50% cuts to Chinese subsidies and reduced U.S. incentives affected the firm’s outlook.
With those pressures factored in, the firm now expects Tesla to deliver 1.75 million vehicles in 2026 and 2 million in 2027, slightly below consensus estimates of 1.82 million and 2.15 million, respectively. The analyst was cautiously optimistic, as near-term pressure from subsidies is there, but the company’s long-term tech roadmap remains very compelling.
Despite the revised target, Mizuho remained optimistic on Tesla’s long-term technology roadmap. The firm highlighted three major growth drivers into 2027: the broader adoption of Full Self-Driving V14, the expansion of Tesla’s Robotaxi service, and the commercialization of Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot.
“We are lowering TSLA Ests/PT to $475 with Potential BEV headwinds in 2026E. We believe into 2026E, US (~37% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) EV subsidy cuts and China (34% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) potential 50% EV subsidy cuts could be a headwind to EV deliveries.
“We are now estimating TSLA deliveries for 2026/27E at 1.75M/2.00M (slightly below cons. 1.82M/2.15M). We see some LT drivers with FSD v14 adoption for autonomous, robotaxi launches, and humanoid robots into 2027 driving strength,” the analyst noted.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) has landed an elusive “must own” status from Wall Street firm Melius, according to a new note released early this week.
Analyst Rob Wertheimer said Tesla will lead the charge in world-changing tech, given the company’s focus on self-driving, autonomy, and Robotaxi. In a note to investors, Wertheimer said “the world is about to change, dramatically,” because of the advent of self-driving cars.
He looks at the industry and sees many potential players, but the firm says there will only be one true winner:
“Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is.”
The major argument is that autonomy is nearing a tipping point where years of chipping away at the software and data needed to develop a sound, safe, and effective form of autonomous driving technology turn into an avalanche of progress.
Wertheimer believes autonomy is a $7 trillion sector,” and in the coming years, investors will see “hundreds of billions in value shift to Tesla.”
A lot of the major growth has to do with the all-too-common “butts in seats” strategy, as Wertheimer believes that only a fraction of people in the United States have ridden in a self-driving car. In Tesla’s regard, only “tens of thousands” have tried Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (Supervised) version, which is v14.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
When it reaches a widespread rollout and more people are able to experience Tesla Full Self-Driving v14, he believes “it will shock most people.”
Citing things like Tesla’s massive data pool from its vehicles, as well as its shift to end-to-end neural nets in 2021 and 2022, as well as the upcoming AI5 chip, which will be put into a handful of vehicles next year, but will reach a wider rollout in 2027, Melius believes many investors are not aware of the pace of advancement in self-driving.
Tesla’s lead in its self-driving efforts is expanding, Wertheimer says. The company is making strategic choices on everything from hardware to software, manufacturing, and overall vehicle design. He says Tesla has left legacy automakers struggling to keep pace as they still rely on outdated architectures and fragmented supplier systems.
Tesla shares are up over 6 percent at 10:40 a.m. on the East Coast, trading at around $416.
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