Investor's Corner
Why a Tesla Model Y update during the Q4 earnings call will set TSLA on fire
Tesla is set to report its Q4 2019 earnings after the bell rings to close trading on Wednesday and if the electric car manufacturer announces during the call that Model Y delivery will begin soon, expect TSLA stock to skyrocket.
A stellar Q3 2019 performance helped Tesla stock gain momentum and set up Elon Musk’s electric car brand for its final push in the last few months of 2019. Analysts are optimistic following its historic fourth quarter, when it was able to deliver 112,000 vehicles and produce more than 104,000 units. This helped TSLA rise to a $100 billion valuation, bumping German auto giant Volkswagen on the second spot in the list of the most valuable carmakers in the globe.
UPDATED: Tesla $TSLA shares soar following confirmation of Model Y first deliveries and breakout Q4 2019 results
As for the much-awaited all-electric crossover, the production schedule of the Tesla Model Y has moved up from Fall 2020 to Summer 2020 but all signs hint that it may even come sooner. From several sightings of production-ready Model Y units, the publication of its CARB certification, VINs registration with the NHTSA, and phone calls to future Model Y owners, rumors that the first deliveries of the Model Y will begin in February are highly-likely true.
If the Tesla Model Y premium electric crossover indeed hits the road next month, expect movement in the price of TSLA stock. And the only direction to look is up.
Early delivery of Model Y should scare competitors
Tesla has struggled before in keeping its promises of delivering vehicles to customers on time. Skeptics had a point because every carmaker must do its best to meet the demand and keep their customers happy. Elon Musk and his team fine-tuned kinks in production and proved to critics that they’re taking steps in the right direction as Tesla delivered 367,000 vehicles in 2019 — that’s a 50% jump from its numbers in 2018.
Deliveries of vehicles is an accurate barometer of how Tesla is starting to walk the walk, a clear sign that there’s an improvement in the company’s fundamentals as a whole. Initial production of the vehicle is being handled by Tesla’s Fremont plant in California but the company has also started its Model Y program in China. Giga Berlin will contribute to its production as soon as July 2021, with the facility set to start its operations with the production of the all-electric crossover as well.
The early delivery of the Model Y to consumers also means that Tesla has underpromised and over-delivered. This is a screaming signal that competitors should worry cause whatever “advanced manufacturing technologies” Elon Musk mentioned when he recently spoke about the Model Y could work wonders for the carmaker. These innovations may be related to a casting machine that can practically cast most of the vehicle’s body in one piece, rigid wiring system, and other technologies that the market will learn about soon.
“Model Y will also have some advanced manufacturing technology that we will reveal in the future. I think it will be exciting to show the kind of manufacturing technology associated with the Model Y and it will be exciting to learn about these technologies,” Musk said.
If these manufacturing technologies take Tesla a step closer to perfecting its production line design, then it can hit its production goals in Fremont, Shanghai, and Berlin in the near future. Of course, this efficiency in Model Y production will have a chain effect across its factories and product lines. Better production means a smaller gap between supply and demand. With better efficiency, trust in the brand can soar and sales go boom.
Tesla Model Y will be king of SUV/Crossover Segment
The Tesla Model Y electric crossover that has a range of 300 miles and an impressive 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds for its quickest variant is positioned perfectly.
Demand for sedans in the United States has been going down fast in favor of more spacious and more functional rides such as SUVs and crossovers. There were 17 million vehicles sold in the US in 2019 and only 28% of that are cars.
Focusing on the crossover segment, the Tesla Model Y has some formidable competition in the form of the BMW X3, Audi Q5, Audi e-tron, Jaguar I-PACE, and the more affordable Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.
In terms of price and size, the Model Y is comparable to the rest of the pack but the Model Y will have an option to accommodate seven passengers that others cannot offer. And of course, the other electric crossovers are all from internal combustion engine producers and they’re not doing very well. The Audi e-tron only sold 5,369 units in the US while the I-PACE sold 2,594 units. The picture is similar for other mid-sized SUVs.
With the preference of consumers leaning towards roomier vehicles, the Model Y will further prove the credibility and popularity of Tesla brand.
Model Y can help push Tesla to sustained profitability
During the Q3 earnings call, Musk was quoted about his expectations of the Model Y.
“I’ve actually recently driven the Model Y release candidate, and I think it’s going to be an amazing product and be very well received. I think it’s quite likely to — this is just my opinion, but I think it will outsell S, X, and 3, combined,” Musk said.
The Model Y is the ultimate bad news for critics and competitors. If Tesla found a way to accelerate production and start delivering its all-electric crossover in February, that just means Model Y sales would be added to the books and help raise the company’s earnings in 2020.
While the Model 3 is the first mass-produced vehicle of Tesla, the Model Y will be the first affordable electric SUV that can help push it to sustained profitability. The electric crossover that starts at $39,000 shares 75% of its DNA with its sedan sibling but even with a higher price tag, the innovations in production that Elon Musk mentioned will push the cost down.
Tesla will not only have a good profit margin for the Model Y in the United States, but there’s also a good chance that its margins will even be bigger in China where the locally-made Model 3 has received a warm reception.
The Palo Alto, California-based company can push the margins for its electric crossover further by doing what it plans to do with the Made-in-China Model 3. Localization of components will be key as this will allow Tesla to push the vehicle’s price down and practically create demand. That will work well, according to analysts from Chuancai Securities, an equity firm in China.
The Tesla Model Y will be a game-changer in the industry. If Model 3 was the straight punch to its competitors, the Model Y will be the power uppercut punch that will knock out its rivals.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Elon Musk confirmed Starmind as SpaceX’s AI satellite constellation name, targeting one million orbital compute nodes.
Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX’s planned AI satellite constellation, following a trademark filing by xAI that surfaced earlier this week. Starmind is what’s being described to the FCC as a constellation of up to one million AI satellites
It’s worth noting that SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellite and Starmind are built on the same orbital infrastructure concept but serve entirely different purposes. Starlink is a connectivity network, with satellites receiving and relaying data between points on Earth, and functioning as a high-speed internet backbone in space. The satellites themselves do not process or think, and move information from one place to another, the same function a fiber cable performs underground.
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
Starmind, on the other hand, is something completely different, and tather than moving data, its satellites would compute data through artificial intelligence and directly in orbit using onboard processors powered by large solar arrays. Where a Starlink satellite is essentially a very fast pipe, a Starmind satellite is a server. The practical implication is that Starmind would allow AI models to run inference, process queries, and generate outputs from space, then beam results down to users anywhere on Earth within milliseconds, and without the data ever needing to travel to a terrestrial data center.
Starship will be able to carry 30 to 50 AI1 satellites per launch, delivering the equivalent of dozens of server racks per flight, with no land acquisition, no power grid approval, and no cooling infrastructure required on the ground.
SpaceX is pursuing this new technology as terrestrial data centers are running into hard limits such as lack of physical space, community opposition, and power and water consumption at a scale that is increasingly difficult to permit. Space has unlimited solar power, natural vacuum cooling, and no zoning boards. Musk said in a June 8 video presentation that he expects space to become the lowest-cost location to deploy AI compute within two to three years. Two AI1 prototypes are scheduled to launch in early 2027, with volume production targeted for the end of that year at a new facility called Gigasat.
The real world applications Starmind enables extend well beyond powering Grok. A constellation of orbiting AI processors could run inference workloads for any paying customer, anywhere on Earth, with latency measured in milliseconds rather than the seconds associated with ground-based cloud routing across continents. Starmind, if it scales as described, would make SpaceX the landlord of AI compute the same way Starlink made it the landlord of satellite internet.
SpaceX announced today that it commenced its first-ever public bond offering, marking a significant step in the newly public company’s capital markets strategy.
The company announced an offering of senior unsecured notes expected to raise at least $20 billion.
The move comes just a short time after SpaceX completed one of the largest initial public offerings in history. In mid-June, the company priced shares at $135 and raised more than $85 billion, propelling founder Elon Musk’s net worth past the trillion-dollar mark and giving the firm substantial liquidity.
🚨 SpaceX has announced its inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes.
The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding loans under its bridge loan facility in full.
This inaugural debt offering represents a financing milestone for SpaceX, which previously depended… pic.twitter.com/pcOZuVbTRv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
According to the company’s SEC filing, the net proceeds from the notes will be used primarily to repay in full the outstanding borrowings under its existing bridge loan facility, cover related fees and expenses, and fund general corporate purposes. The offering is being conducted under Rule 144A, as well as Regulation S, targeting qualified institutional buyers and non-U.S. investors. Notes will be unsecured obligations ranking equally with other unsubordinated debt.
The $20 billion bridge loan was used to refinance approximately $17.5 billion in higher-cost “junk” debt tied to X and xAI. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock deal. The bridge facility, which matures in September 2027, had represented the bulk of SpaceX’s long-term debt.
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In connection with the bond launch, SpaceX disclosed it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Investor calls began on the announcement date, with pricing and launch expected shortly thereafter. Rating agencies have assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed bonds, reflecting confidence in SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial launches and the growth trajectory of its Starlink internet offering.
The debt raise also allows SpaceX to optimize its balance sheet by replacing short-term, higher-cost bridge financing with longer-date, lower-cost fixed-income securities. This provides greater financial flexibility to support capital-intensive initiatives, including the development of Starship, the expansion of the Starlink constellation, and the integration of AI capabilities following the xAI combination.
SpaceX shares (NASDAQ: SPCX) fell sharply on the news, dropping over 16 percent overall on the market on Monday. The stock had surged initially after debuting but pulled back amid profit-taking and broader market dynamics.
Overall, the bond offering underscores SpaceX’s transition to a mature public company with access to diverse funding sources. It positions the firm to pursue its long-term vision of multiplanetary expansion and AI infrastructure, while maintaining a disciplined approach to its capital structure in a high-growth but capital-heavy industry.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX is launching a secret spacecraft that could change how things are made in space
SpaceX’s secret disk-shaped Starfall capsule is targeting a market no reentry vehicle has cracked.
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, June 23 for the first flight of Starfall, a reentry capsule the company has developed almost entirely in private. The Falcon 9 launch window opens at 6:43 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with a backup window available the same time on June 24. SpaceX has made no public announcement about the vehicle, only providing launch details. Everything known about it has come through FAA and FCC regulatory filings.
What makes Starfall different starts with its shape. Rather than the traditional cone used by Dragon and every other cargo return capsule in operation, Starfall is a flat disk that measures roughly 10.2 feet (3.1 meters) wide and just 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) tall, and weighing 4,630 pounds (2,100 kg) and capable of returning up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of payload from orbit. The disk geometry maximizes structural efficiency and payload volume relative to mass, and the heat shield mechanically jettisons just before splashdown, allowing recovery teams to retrieve both the capsule and the shield separately from the Pacific Ocean.
The difference with Starfall from existing competitors, such as Varda Space Industries, which has largely built the orbital manufacturing market and returns heavy payloads per flight is that Starfall’s specification is roughly 30 times more per mission, and is designed to be mass-produced and launched on either Falcon 9 or Starship. That combination of volume and launch access is something no standalone startup can replicate, and it puts SpaceX in direct competition with the companies that currently pay it to reach orbit.
SpaceX to launch military missile tracking satellites through new Space Force contract
The intended market is orbital manufacturing: pharmaceuticals, protein crystals, semiconductors, and advanced optical fiber that physically cannot be produced in the presence of gravity. FAA documents describe Starfall’s long-term purpose as building a “self-sustaining commercial in-space manufacturing market” and as a potential successor to the industrial capabilities of the International Space Station, which is set to retire in the late 2020s. Military rapid global cargo delivery is a parallel application under active discussion with the Pentagon.
The reason some industries seek manufacturing in space comes down to gravity. On Earth, gravity causes materials to settle, separate, and deform during production. In microgravity, those constraints disappear.
SpaceX’s already controls launch access, which means it currently functions as the landlord for every competitor in the orbital manufacturing return space. Starfall converts that landlord position into vertical ownership, and it would no longer just carry other companies’ capsules to orbit, but rather operate the capsule, own the return logistics, and capture the service revenue directly. Viewed alongside Starlink, Colossus, and the xAI merger, Starfall fits a consistent pattern: SpaceX identifying infrastructure layers that others depend on and moving to own them outright. Orbital manufacturing return is the next layer on that list.
If Tuesday’s reentry, parachute sequence, and recovery demonstration goes as planned, the second FAA-approved test flight follows. A successful pair of demos would position SpaceX to begin offering Starfall as a commercial service, likely first to pharmaceutical and materials science customers before scaling toward the military and broader manufacturing segments.
Tesla looks keen to bring larger Model Y L to the U.S.
One of Tesla’s biggest threats just got banned in the U.S.
