Investor's Corner
Tesla’s steadily-improving Model 3 production ramp is starting to win over Wall St.
True to Elon Musk’s words last month about the challenges Tesla faced during the Model 3 ramp, the company appears to be well on its way to leaving its self-imposed “production hell.” As Tesla’s Model 3 production shows more encouraging signs, Wall Street appears to be adopting an increasingly optimistic outlook on the electric car and energy company.
Amidst the noise surrounding Elon Musk’s tweets about the funding for Tesla’s possible privatization being secured, the company is steadily making progress in an area that matters a lot this Q3 — the Model 3 production ramp. Tesla is currently attempting to hit profitability this Q3, and being the vehicle expected to comprise most of Tesla’s electric car sales for the quarter, the Model 3 is key to this goal.
Tesla was finally able to hit its self-imposed target of producing 5,000 Model 3 per week during the final week of June. When the company released its Q2 production and deliveries report, some Wall St. analysts promptly expressed their doubts about the company’s capability to sustain the car’s optimum production rate. In the weeks that followed the release of the Q2 production and deliveries report, Tesla showed signs that it is capable of sustaining the optimum production pace of the Model 3. Hiring was ramped, more than 19,000 new Model 3 VINs were filed in a 2-week period, test drives for the Model 3 were started, and programs such as the 5-minute Sign & Drive delivery system were adopted. The Model 3’s sustained production was ultimately confirmed in the Q2 earnings call when Musk noted that Tesla was able to manufacture 5,000 Model 3 per week during “multiple weeks” in July.
Tesla has exhibited the same encouraging signs this August. Just recently, the company registered a record 16,000 new Model 3 VINs in a seven-day period — a feat that took the company roughly eight months to accomplish when it first started producing the electric car. Tesla appears to have begun initiatives to bring the Model 3 overseas as well, with viewings being scheduled for Australia and New Zealand. Even more recently, George Galliers of Evercore ISI, after a tour of the Fremont factory, released a note stating that Tesla is likely well on its way to achieving a steady weekly production rate of 5,000-6,000 Model 3 per week. The analyst even noted that despite the controversy over the company’s possible privatization, the fundamentals of Tesla’s operations are encouraging.
“Tesla seems well on the way to achieving a steady weekly production rate of 5,000 to 6,000 units per week. We are incrementally positive on Tesla following our visit. We have confidence in their production. We did not see anything to suggest that Model 3 cannot reach 6k units per week and 7k to 8k with very little incremental capital expenditure. Focusing on the fundamentals and setting aside talk of privatization, we are incrementally positive on Tesla following our visit.”
The Evercore ISI analyst is not alone in his optimistic outlook on Tesla, either. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who previously had a $265 price target for Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA), recently raised his price target for the company to $325 per share. Sacconaghi is not even an avid supporter of Elon Musk, being one of the analysts who attracted the CEO’s ire during the now-infamous Q1 earnings call, where he asked what Musk described as “boneheaded” questions.
Jefferies Financial Group also lifted their price objective for Tesla from a conservative $250 to an optimistic $360 in a report issued last week. The firm also gave Tesla stock a “Neutral” rating. Berenberg Bank reissued a “Buy” rating for Tesla stock, placing a price objective of $500 for the company’s shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which still has a “Sell” rating on TSLA, raised its price target to $308, a significant increase from its previous price target of $195.
While Tesla stock remains a battleground between the company’s supporters and critics, Wall Street seems to be showing signs that it is starting to adopt a more optimistic stance on the electric car maker. If the company’s new price targets from Wall Street are any indication, it appears that even firms that have been critical of Tesla are starting to recognize and acknowledge the progress the electric car maker is making. If Tesla nails its Model 3 targets this Q3 by sustaining the vehicle’s production at a rate of 5,000 units per week or more, Elon Musk’s vision of a profitable Tesla might actually come true.
As of writing, Tesla stock is trading up 0.51% at $340.43 per share.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
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.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
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