Investor's Corner
Tesla stock (TSLA) maintains strength amid Chinese tariff rollbacks, Q4 Model 3 push
Tesla shares (NASDAQ:TSLA) appear to be keeping their momentum on Tuesday, trading as high as $369.80 after the opening bell. The electric car maker continues to show momentum amidst news of upcoming tariff rollbacks in China, as well as what could very well be another Model 3 push for the end of the fourth quarter.
Reports emerged on Tuesday stating that China is moving to cut import tariffs on American-made vehicles entering its shores. Due to the US-China trade war, vehicles from America such as Tesla’s electric cars are weighed down by a steep 40% import tariff. Citing people familiar with the matter, a Bloomberg report has noted that China is poised to cut import taxes to just 15%, following a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina.
The publication’s sources noted that the specifics of the two countries’ deal have yet to be finalized. That said, the idea of reduced import tariffs has been warmly received by Wall Street. Other American carmakers such as GM and Ford both rose about 2% in Tuesday’s pre-market, and Tesla opened the day well into the green.
Tesla has maintained a strong brand in China despite its sales being weighed down by the ongoing trade war. The company has adopted strategies to protect its presence in the country, even announcing last month that it would “absorb” some of the 40% import tariffs to make its vehicles more affordable to Chinese buyers. That said, a 15% import tariff for the company’s electric cars would likely herald a big boost for Tesla’s sales in the country.
Tesla’s performance in a Chinese market with a 15% import tariff has been teased earlier this year. Prior to the start of the US-China trade war, after all, China’s Customs Tariff Commission under China’s cabinet announced that it would reduce car import duties from 20-25% to just 15%. Tesla promptly adjusted the prices of its vehicles after the announcement. The reaction of the market was notable, resulting in a Tesla gallery in Shanghai clearing out its entire Model X 75D inventory in 24 hours.
Apart from seemingly better headwinds in China, Tesla is also starting what could be its end-of-quarter Model 3 push. Elon Musk has been promoting the company’s vehicles on Twitter, even encouraging buyers to wish to acquire vehicles that were from canceled orders, as well as cars used as display units. Musk even noted that a full refund awaits those who would not be able to take delivery of their vehicles by the end of the year.
Important note for US Tesla buyers: Federal tax credit drops by $3750 in 3 weeks.
To be on the cancellation waitlist for delivery this year or if you want a display car, order at https://t.co/46TXqRJ3C1 or visit our stores. Full refund if Tesla can’t deliver your car this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2018
Tesla has shown a tendency to adopt an aggressive push for the Model 3 in the final months of a quarter. The company did this in Q1 when it was trying to hit a production rate of 2,500 Model 3 per week, and it did the same in the second quarter when the target was raised to 5,000 per week. In the third quarter, Tesla’s end-of-quarter push was characterized by what Elon Musk described as “delivery logistics hell” and a remarkable community-driven effort to help hand over vehicles to new owners.
This Q4, Tesla appears to be setting the stage for year another delivery blitz leading all the way until the end of December. Elon Musk previously noted that the company had acquired trucking capacity to avoid the delivery bottlenecks it faced in the third quarter. In a recent tweet, Musk further emphasized Tesla’s generous return policy for its vehicles, in what appears to be yet another gesture encouraging potential electric car buyers to purchase the company’s vehicles.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) endured one of its sharpest single-day declines in years on July 23, tumbling approximately 14.5 percent and closing near $320 after opening the session around $374. The drop erased more than $140 billion in market value amid heavy trading volume and left the shares at multi-week lows.
The sell-off followed the company’s second-quarter 2026 results, released the previous evening. Tesla reported record revenue of $28.2 billion, up 26 percent year over year, driven by a Q2-record 480,126 vehicle deliveries. Energy storage deployments also rose strongly.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Yet profitability disappointed sharply. Operating income fell 57 percent to $398 million, compressing the operating margin to just 1.4 percent. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.33, well below the roughly $0.53 analysts had expected. Free cash flow turned negative by $1.1 billion as capital expenditures surged 142 percent to $5.8 billion, largely tied to accelerated spending on artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems.
The losses on capex were expected, as Tesla said it would be spending heavily in 2026.
Investors also reacted to lingering uncertainty surrounding key product timelines. During the Earnings Call, management reiterated ambitions for Robotaxi deployment and the Optimus humanoid robot, but offered limited new concrete milestones, renewing questions about execution pace that have long accompanied Tesla’s ambitious roadmap.
The magnitude of the decline places it among Tesla’s more severe one-day percentage losses since its 2010 initial public offering. Historically, the two largest single-day drops (split-adjusted) remain September 8, 2020, when shares fell 21.1 percent amid broader market volatility and valuation concerns, and January 13, 2012, with a 19.3 percent plunge during the company’s early growth struggles.
Other notable declines include an 18.6 percent drop on March 16, 2020, at the onset of pandemic-related market turmoil. Thursday’s move ranks roughly ninth on the all-time list but stands out as the steepest in more than a year.
Despite the short-term pain, Tesla’s long-term trajectory has repeatedly recovered from such volatility. The latest results underscore both the strength of its core automotive and energy businesses and the near-term costs of heavy investment in next-generation technologies.
In a striking revelation that underscores the lucrative crossover between Big Tech and space exploration, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, disclosed a massive $94.1 billion equity stake in SpaceX following the rocket company’s blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year.
The disclosure came in Alphabet’s quarterly filing, marking the first time the long-held private investment has been publicly valued at market prices. Google was an early backer, investing alongside Fidelity in 2015 with roughly $500-900 million at a time when SpaceX was valued around $12 billion.
That bet has delivered extraordinary returns, roughly a hundredfold, transforming a strategic play on satellite internet and launch capabilities into one of Alphabet’s largest assets.
Google, $GOOGL, has said they hold $94 billion in SpaceX, $SPCX, shares after IPO.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 23, 2026
Of the total holding, approximately $80 billion remains subject to short-term post-IPO lockup restrictions, preventing near-term sales. An additional $14.1 billion faces longer-term restrictions, extending into the third quarter of 2027. This structure limits immediate liquidity but protects against market volatility as SpaceX transitions into public trading.
The SpaceX position contributed significantly to gains in Alphabet’s broader investment portfolio, which also includes a major stake in AI leader Anthropic. Combined, these holdings helped drive nearly $100 billion in investment gains during the second quarter, providing a substantial boost to net income amid ongoing AI spending pressures.
Analysts view the disclosure as validation of Alphabet’s venture strategy beyond its core search and cloud businesses. The investment aligns with deeper ties, including reported multi-billion-dollar deals for AI computing capacity on SpaceX infrastructure. As SpaceX advances Starship flights, Starlink expansion, and ambitious Mars goals under Elon Musk, Google’s stake positions it to benefit from the commercialization of space.
For Alphabet, the windfall highlights how patient, forward-looking bets in transformative sectors can yield outsized rewards. While lockups temper short-term impact, the holding cements SpaceX as a cornerstone of Alphabet’s diversified portfolio in an era where aerospace, AI, and connectivity increasingly intersect. Investors will watch closely as restrictions lift and SpaceX’s public performance unfolds.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
