Investor's Corner
It’s clear, Tesla needs a COO and it can’t come soon enough
Tesla’s stock price has fallen nearly 24% in the last month, with the majority of the decline occurring this week. The drastic change isn’t really attributable to a single factor. The company is under pressure across the board, from Model 3 production, Solar Roof delays, concerns of a cash crunch, and delays in Autopilot’s Full Self-Driving capability. While there isn’t one solution to solve all of Tesla’s growing pains, hiring a Chief Operating Officer could help bring some operational stability to the company while curbing any overpromises made to customers and investors.
Elon Musk has been the CEO of Tesla for the past 9.5 years, and with a newly approved multi-billion dollar compensation plan, signs point to Musk taking the reins for at least another 10 years. However, Musk isn’t committing solely to Tesla as he’s also the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO of Neuralink, CEO of The Boring Company, and one can argue that he’s also a full-time Twitter persona.
In his other companies outside of Tesla, Musk has a key executive running the business operations. President and COO Gwynne Shotwell joined SpaceX as the 11th employee in 2002 and has turned Musk’s passion for Space into a business with over $12 billion in order contracts.
Although Tesla has nearly six times more employees than SpaceX, the young space company operates efficiently and akin to a well-oiled machine, according to employees working at SpaceX. Yet, at the same time, Tesla has seen high executive turnover, as Musk holds tight control of the company’s day-to-day management.
Tesla’s need for a “Shotwell Equivalent” is more apparent than ever and for these key reasons:
- Model 3 Production: Bloomberg’s Model 3 production tracker shows that they are below 50% of their end of March production rate target. Musk should have never increased production targets on the vehicle and needed to be far more conservative with his estimates.
- Continuous delays with Autopilot technology: After ditching Mobileye’s technology in autopilot systems 21 months ago, Tesla’s development of the technology has slowed significantly. Musk first said that a Tesla would be able to drive coast-to-coast autonomously by the end of 2017, that has now been moved to mid-2018.
- Need to capitalize on Model S and Model X. Tesla has built a high-margin business out of their Model S and Model X vehicles. At current production rates, the company can generate $2.5 billion in free cash flow from those two vehicles alone. Tesla should use strategic marketing to boost demand for the vehicles, allowing the company to bring in more high-margin revenue.
- Acquisition of SolarCity: Tesla’s acquisition of solar installation company, SolarCity, has failed to provide meaningful value to shareholders. From the outside, it appears as though Tesla’s management team doesn’t have the bandwidth or cash to grow the Solar division. Both of Musk’s cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive have left Tesla after the acquisition to “focus on other projects”.
It would be foolish to think that a COO would solve all of the company’s issues, but having a dedicated executive to manage day-to-day operations could certainly help in preventing executive turnover while keeping employees focused on Tesla’s core mission: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Who could be Tesla’s new Chief Operating Officer?
I’ve prepared a shortlist of executives that could potentially land themselves as Tesla’s first COO.
1. Mike Sievert (COO of T-Mobile US)
While Sievert doesn’t have automotive experience, he does bring strong experience managing a large employee base and has worked in the technology sector for the past 25 years. Sievert joined T-Mobile in late 2012 as CMO and became COO in 2015. Since joining T-Mobile, Sievert has been crucial to the company’s successful turnaround. And to boot, Sievert has experience working with outspoken CEOs who also moonlight as a Twitter personality.
2. Julia Steyn (VP Urban Mobility at General Motors and CEO of Maven)
Steyn joined General Motors in 2012 as VP of Merger and Acquisitions and became the VP of Urban Mobility and CEO of GM’s Maven division in late 2015. She has led the company’s initiative into car-sharing with the Maven division and has played a key role in GM’s moves into autonomous vehicles. Prior to joining GM, Steyn was VP at Alcoa, one of the world’s largest aluminum suppliers. She also spent 7.5 years at Goldman Sachs as VP of the Global Natural Resources Group in the Investment Banking division.
3. Alicia Boler Davis (EVP, Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations, General Motors)
Boler Davis has spent the last 24 years at General Motors in a variety of capacities and became EVP of Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations in 2016. She oversees over 150,000 employees in the manufacturing division of GM across 150 different facilities. Prior to her current role, she was SVP of Global Connected Customer Experience where she played a role, like Julia Steyn, in GM’s expansion into car-sharing and autonomous vehicles. Her extensive engineering and managerial experience at GM could bring more order and stability as the company plans to expand production across the globe.
Obviously, this list isn’t comprehensive but should provide a starting point for potential hires. Who do you think should be hired as the first Chief Operating Officer at Tesla?
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Elon Musk told investors Semi self-driving should start working by early 2027, per today’s earnings.
During Wednesday’s’ Tesla Q2 earnings call, an analyst asked Elon Musk when Tesla would look at autonomy for the Semi. His answer set a real timeline for the first time, noting that self-driving on the Tesla Semi is expected to start working “around the end of this year or early next year”.
Musk framed the delay as a matter of priority, not capability. Tesla’s self-driving team is currently focused on Model 3, Model Y, and Cybercab, the vehicles that make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s fleet. Since Semi trucks on the road remain a small fraction of that total even after the recent Nevada factory ramp, Musk said it made more sense to keep the software team’s attention on what he called “the march of nines of safety” for the higher volume vehicles first. Autonomous Semi development is “taking a bit of a backseat for the next six months or so,” he said, before adding that it “will definitely be working next year and in time for the scale-up to high production of the Tesla Semi.”
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
The timeline lines up with what’s already been showing up on public roads. In June, a Tesla Semi was spotted in Sunnyvale wearing a full validation rig, the same rooftop sensor array Tesla mounts on vehicles ahead of an FSD milestone.
A second unit was seen near Fremont days later with a matching camera suite and lens washers. Separately, Tesla analyst Nic Cruz Patane posted video this month of the production Semi’s exterior camera array, ten AI4 based units built directly into the truck rather than added later.
Tesla Semi AI4 cameras. The production version has 10 cameras on its exterior.
These trucks are designed to be autonomous. pic.twitter.com/GH3BamxIBQ
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) April 14, 2026
Musk also gave the reason autonomy on the Semi matters in the first place, a persistent shortage of qualified truck drivers. “There is a really serious shortage of truckers,” he said on the call, framing a self-driving Semi as important both for addressing that shortage and for improving safety and comfort for the drivers running the truck today.
The timing also tracks with the Semi’s production reality. Tesla’s Q2 shareholder letter, dropped language promising the Semi would reach volume production this year. Musk pointed to 4680 battery cell output as the near-term constraint on Semi and Cybercab production. A software timeline landing in early 2027 gives Tesla’s autonomy team room to work while the hardware ramp catches up behind it.
It’s worth nothing that this isn’t necessarily a promise the Semi ships driverless next year. Musk’s own language, self-driving “working” by early 2027, describes internal validation catching up to hardware already riding on every production truck, not a public unsupervised rollout.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) will report its earnings for the second quarter of 2026 this evening after market close, and investors and analysts are waiting anxiously to see what the company will report for the second three-month span of the year.
Analysts have already put out their expectations from a financial standpoint for the company’s second quarter, but what’s unknown is what Tesla plans to discuss during the call.
Financial Expectations
Wall Street consensus expectations put Tesla’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) at $0.53, while revenues are expected to come in around $26.4 billion.
This would compare to an EPS of $0.39 and $22.19 billion compared to Tesla’s Q2 2025. Last quarter, EPS came in at $0.41 on $22.387 billion of revenue. Additionally in Q1, Tesla beat analyst expectations, but shares dropped over 3 percent the following trading day.
What We Expect
In terms of discussions, Tesla earnings are pretty sporadic and depend on a handful of things, including current events, investor questions, and more.
Tesla uses a platform called Say to field questions from investors and analysts. These questions are what will be used during the call. Here are the top 5 from the Retail side and top 3 from the Institutional side:
Retail:
“Tesla has missed short-term guidance on robotaxi 3 earnings reports in a row, from 50% coverage of USA by end of 2025 to most recently 7 new cities in 1H26. What is keeping Tesla back from accomplishing these short term goals that they’ve set for themselves?”
“What are the main constraints to expanding robotaxi operations faster, and how do you see that lining up with Cybercab production?”
“What’s the current status of Optimus Gen 3 production ramp, initial deployment in factories, and external sales timeline/volume for 2027? What tasks can we expect the Optimus to perform by end of 2027?”
“To reward long-term Tesla retail shareholders for their loyalty, can you commit to achieving at least half of the goals outlined in your 2025 compensation plan before considering any offers to acquire or merge Tesla?”
“Why has growth of robotaxi vehicles stalled? When will we see cybercab start customer rides?”
Institutional
“Previously, you’ve said Tesla would lead the R&D while SpaceX would lead production for Terafab. Can you provide an update on how that division of responsibilities is evolving, and any additional clarity on the expected capital contributions from Tesla and SpaceX?”
“For autonomous driving, Tesla’s fleet created a huge data advantage by collecting billions of real-world miles. That advantage doesn’t yet exist for Optimus. How should we think about data availability and its impact on Optimus development?”
“Why is it necessary to limit robotaxi operations within specific zones within cities to start? Will every city have to be rolled out this way?”
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 this evening with the Shareholder Deck at 4 p.m. ET, with the call starting around 5:30 p.m. ET.
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
