Connect with us
tesla supercharger tesla supercharger

Investor's Corner

Tesla set for ‘massive trajectory’ for Q3 deliveries fueled by September demand

Credit: Tesla

Published

on

    • Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says September Tesla deliveries are on pace for “massive trajectory”
    • Ives reiterates “Outperform” rating; holds $1,000 price target
    • Tesla on pace for 230,000 deliveries, Ives predicts

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set for its biggest quarter in company history, according to Wedbush analyst and $TSLA bull Daniel Ives. Ives, who has periodically put his two cents regarding Tesla stock for several years, has spoken highly of the electric automaker, giving the company credit for being the leading force in the up-and-coming “green tidal wave” that will overtake the automotive sector as a whole. Tesla’s Q3 2021 is likely to be fed in part by September demand, which Ives believes is trending toward historic levels thanks to the automaker’s ability to avoid the long and drawn-out shortage of semiconductor chips.

Ives, who currently maintains an “Outperform” rating on $TSLA stock with a price target of $1,000, said that he is confident Tesla would exceed consensus expectations, which have Q3 deliveries set at 123,000 vehicles. Ives is more convinced of Tesla hitting 230,000 deliveries in Q3, mainly fueled by a “massive trajectory” of between 145,000 to 150,000 deliveries in September alone.

“The pace of EV deliveries in the US and China have been robust the last 4-6 weeks with an eye-popping growth trajectory heading into 4Q and 2022 for Musk & Co.,” Ives wrote in a note to investors.

September may be the saving grace for Tesla in Q3, especially as Elon Musk wrote in a leaked email to Tesla employees earlier this month that Q3 has the potential to be the company’s most remarkable. The CEO told workers that this week has the potential to be the “most intense delivery week ever,” as Tesla continues to trend toward record numbers once again. Tesla has not seen a decline in sales or deliveries of its vehicles Quarter-over-Quarter since Q1 2019.

The only reason Ives believes Tesla won’t have an even bigger quarter than he expects is due to the semiconductor chip shortage. While Tesla was able to avert most of the production delays and manufacturing stoppages with the creation of its own in-house microcontrollers, there was still a negative effect on the company’s production and delivery rate in July and August, he said in the note. Ives believes Tesla would have delivered around 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles for the first two months of the quarter. Overall, Ives said that the chip shortage may have decreased the overall production and delivery number by around 40,000 units.

RELATED:

Advertisement

Tesla (TSLA) gets upbeat estimates from Wall St amid “strongest ever” quarter

Tesla’s decision to export vehicles from Shanghai to Europe earlier this month to begin sales of the Model Y crossover on the continent could have also affected the automaker’s overall outlook for Q3. Ives believes the intense and complicated logistical process may have thrown a few wrenches into Tesla’s overall growth.

Even still, as Tesla navigated through the chip shortage and handled a new logistical process with relative ease, Ives is convinced that Tesla will still report its biggest quarter when Q3 wraps up tomorrow.

Analysts at other financial firms have already listed their estimates for Tesla’s third quarter. Many analysts have expectations for around 230,000 vehicles, including Alex Potter of Piper Sandler and Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy. The analysts estimated 233,000 and between 225,000-230,000 deliveries for Q3, respectively.

Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.

Advertisement

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Shareholder group urges Nasdaq probe into Elon Musk’s Tesla 2025 CEO Interim Award

The SOC Investment Group represents pension funds tied to more than two million union members, many of whom hold shares in TSLA.

Published

on

Credit: xAI/X

An investment group is urging Nasdaq to investigate Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) over its recent $29 billion equity award for CEO Elon Musk. 

The SOC Investment Group, which represents pension funds tied to more than two million union members—many of whom hold shares in TSLA—sent a letter to the exchange citing “serious concerns” that the package sidestepped shareholder approval and violated compensation rules.

Concerns over Tesla’s 2025 CEO Interim Award

In its August 19 letter to Nasdaq enforcement chief Erik Wittman, SOC alleged that Tesla’s board improperly granted Musk a “2025 CEO Interim Award” under the company’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan. That plan, the group noted, explicitly excluded Musk when it was approved by shareholders. SOC argued that the new equity grant effectively expanded the plan to cover Musk, a material change that should have required a shareholder vote under Nasdaq rules.

The $29 billion package was designed to replace Musk’s overturned $56 billion award from 2018, which the Delaware Chancery Court struck down, prompting Tesla to file an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court. The interim award contains restrictions: Musk must remain in a leadership role until August 2027, and vested shares cannot be sold until 2030, as per a Yahoo Finance report.

Even so, critics such as SOC have argued that the plan does not have of performance targets, calling it a “fog-the-mirror” award. This means that “If you’re around and have enough breath left in you to fog the mirror, you get them,” stated Brian Dunn, the director of the Institute for Comprehension Studies at Cornell University.

Advertisement

SOC’s Tesla concerns beyond Elon Musk

SOC’s concerns extend beyond the mechanics of Musk’s pay. The group has long questioned the independence of Tesla’s board, opposing the reelection of directors such as Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch. It has also urged regulators to review Tesla’s governance practices, including past proposals to shrink the board. 

SOC has also joined initiatives calling for Tesla to adopt comprehensive labor rights policies, including noninterference with worker organizing and compliance with global labor standards. The investment group has also been involved in webinars and resolutions highlighting the risks related to Tesla’s approach to unions, as well as labor issues across several countries.

Tesla has not yet publicly responded to SOC’s latest letter, nor to requests for comment.

The SOC’s letter can be viewed below.

Nasdaq+Letter Tsla Socig Final by Simon Alvarez

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla investors may be in for a big surprise

All signs point toward a strong quarter for Tesla in terms of deliveries. Investors could be in for a surprise.

Published

on

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla investors have plenty of things to be ecstatic about, considering the company’s confidence in autonomy, AI, robotics, cars, and energy. However, many of them may be in for a big surprise as the end of the $7,500 EV tax credit nears. On September 30, it will be gone for good.

This has put some skepticism in the minds of some investors: the lack of a $7,500 discount for buying a clean energy vehicle may deter many people from affording Tesla’s industry-leading EVs.

Tesla warns consumers of huge, time-sensitive change coming soon

The focus on quarterly deliveries, while potentially waning in terms of importance to the future, is still a big indicator of demand, at least as of now. Of course, there are other factors, most of them economic.

The big push to make the most of the final quarter of the EV tax credit is evident, as Tesla is reminding consumers on social media platforms and through email communications that the $7,500 discount will not be here forever. It will be gone sooner rather than later.

It appears the push to maximize sales this quarter before having to assess how much they will be impacted by the tax credit’s removal is working.

Delivery Wait Time Increases

Wait times for Tesla vehicles are increasing due to what appears to be increased demand for the company’s vehicles. Recently, Model Y delivery wait times were increased from 1-3 weeks to 4-6 weeks.

This puts extra pressure on consumers to pull the trigger on an order, as delivery must be completed by the cutoff date of September 30.

Delivery wait times may have gone up due to an increase in demand as consumers push to make a purchase before losing that $7,500 discount.

More People are Ordering

A post on X by notable Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt anecdotally shows he has been receiving more DMs than normal from people stating that they’re ordering vehicles before the end of the tax credit:

It’s not necessarily a confirmation of more orders, but it could be an indication that things are certainly looking that way.

Why Investors Could Be Surprised

Tesla investors could see some positive movement in stock price following the release of the Q3 delivery report, especially if all signs point to increased demand this quarter.

We reported previously that this could end up being a very strong rebounding quarter for Tesla, with so many people taking advantage of the tax credit.

Whether the delivery figures will be higher than normal remains to be seen. But all indications seem to point to Q3 being a very strong quarter for Tesla.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla bear Guggenheim sees nearly 50% drop off in stock price in new note

Tesla bear Guggenheim does not see any upside in Robotaxi.

Published

on

tesla showroom
Credit: Tesla

Tesla bear Guggenheim is still among the biggest non-believers in the company’s overall mission and its devotion to solving self-driving.

In a new note to investors on Thursday, analyst Ronald Jewsikow reiterated his price target of $175, a nearly 50 percent drop off, with a ‘Sell’ rating, all based on skepticism regarding Tesla’s execution of the Robotaxi platform.

A few days ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s Robotaxi platform would open to the public in September, offering driverless rides to anyone in the Austin area within its geofence, which is roughly 90 square miles large.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi is opening to the public: here’s when

However, Jewsikow’s skepticism regarding this timeline has to do with what’s going on inside of the vehicles. The analyst was willing to give props to Robotaxi, saying that Musk’s estimation of a September public launch would be a “key step” in offering the service to a broader population.

Where Jewsikow’s real issue lies is with Tesla’s lack of transparency on the Safety Monitors, and how bulls are willing to overlook their importance.

Much of this bullish mentality comes from the fact that the Monitors are not sitting in the driver’s seat, and they don’t have anything to do with the overall operation of the vehicle.

Musk also said last month that reducing Safety Monitors could come “in a month or two.”

Instead, they’re just there to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Jewsikow said:

“While safety drivers will remain, and no timeline has been provided for their removal, bulls have been willing to overlook the optics of safety drivers in TSLA vehicles, and we see no reason why that would change now.”

He also commented on Musk’s recent indication that Tesla was working on a 10x parameter count that could help make Full Self-Driving even more accurate. It could be one of the pieces to Tesla solving autonomy.

Jewsikow added:

“Perhaps most importantly for investors bullish on TSLA for the fleet of potential FSD-enabled vehicles today, the 10x higher parameter count will be able to run on the current generation of FSD hardware and inference compute.”

Elon Musk teases crazy new Tesla FSD model: here’s when it’s coming

Tesla shares are down just about 2 percent today, trading at $332.47.

Continue Reading

Trending