Investor's Corner
Tesla stock proves volatile amid TSLA bull’s cautious stance, longtime critic’s optimistic outlook
Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) is showing its trademark volatility today, amidst a longtime bull’s more cautious stance and a surprisingly optimistic outlook from a longtime critic. Tesla shares opened at $279.68 on Tuesday’s trading, down 2.04% from Monday’s $285.50 close.
In a recent note on Tuesday, Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah downgraded Tesla from “Buy” to “Neutral” in a note to clients titled No Longer Investable. Shah stated in his note that he had been one of Tesla’s biggest bulls since starting his coverage of the company last October, but recent developments concerning Elon Musk have been less than encouraging, particularly regarding the CEO’s Twitter behavior.
“The issue though is the erratic behavior of CEO Elon Musk. During the second quarter, the switch seemingly flipped. This is best expressed in the number of tweets per day, which increased to 15 per day since May from four per day during the prior 18 months,” Shah wrote.
That being said, the Nomura Instinet analyst remains optimistic about the progress that Tesla as a company has accomplished with the Model 3 production ramp. Shah noted that Tesla could very well out-innovate the competition, and the company may eventually become much bigger than it is today, but it would be wise to remain on the sidelines until the electric car maker has better leadership.
“With the launch of the Model 3, we saw that consumers were willing to forego compelling alternatives despite extended wait times and a premium price point. Notwithstanding improving fundamentals, we believe that Tesla is in need of better leadership (an about-face) and are moving to the sidelines until we see what happens with management,” Shah wrote.
With his recent note, the Nomura Instinet analyst opted to cut Tesla’s price target from $400 to $300.
In what could only be described as a dash of irony, Tesla recently received an optimistic outlook from a longtime critic as well. In a note published on Monday, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi stated that TSLA shares would likely bounce back up after the company’s recent drops. Sacconaghi, who has been a vocal critic of Tesla in the past (he is also one of the two analysts that caught Elon Musk’s ire during the now-infamous Q1 2018 earnings call), stated that whenever the company’s shares dipped below $300, it became an “attractive” entry point for investors.
“We see the current dip in Tesla’s stock as analogous to prior trading opportunities, which have tended to arise when the stock falls below ~$300 per share. We think the setup in sentiment looks relatively favorable for the next few weeks. We now see the near-term risk-reward for Tesla as relatively skewed to the upside, given the potential for the stock to revert towards the middle of its $270 to $370 range,” the analyst wrote.
Sacconaghi also noted that behind the noise from the controversies surrounding Elon Musk, Tesla itself appears to be on track for its Model 3 goals this quarter.
“However, it is unclear to us that any of these are deal breakers for the stock. There has been little incremental news about Tesla’s fundamentals. The company appears to remain on track to meet its Model 3 production guidance,” Sacconaghi wrote.
With less than three weeks before the end of September, Tesla is now in full throttle as it attempts to reach its target of producing a total of 50,000-55,000 Model 3 this quarter. Elon Musk appears to be confident of the company’s chances this Q3, as revealed in a letter to employees shared in Tesla’s official blog last Friday. In the letter, Musk noted that Tesla is poised to have the “most amazing quarter” in its history, and it is about to build and deliver “more than twice as many cars” as it did in Q2 2018.
As of writing, Tesla shares are trading down 2.74% at $277.69 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 just filed for the IPO everyone was waiting for
SpaceX filed its public S-1, revealing $18.7 billion in revenue and billions in losses.
SpaceX publicly filed its S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 20, 2026, making its financial details available to the public for the first time ahead of what could be the largest IPO in history.
An S-1 is the formal document a company must submit to the SEC before going public. It includes audited financials, risk factors, business descriptions, and how the company plans to use the money it raises. Companies are required to file one before selling shares to the public, and it must be published at least 15 days before the investor roadshow begins. SpaceX had already submitted a confidential draft to the SEC in April, which allowed regulators to review the filing privately before it went public.
The S-1 reveals that SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in consolidated revenue in 2025, driven largely by its Starlink satellite internet division, which posted $11.4 billion in revenue, growing nearly 50% year over year. Despite that growth, the company lost about $4.9 billion in 2025 and has burned through more than $37 billion since its founding.
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
A significant portion of those losses trace back to xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which was recently merged into SpaceX. SpaceX directed roughly 60% of its capital spending in 2025 to its AI division, totaling around $20 billion, yet that division lost billions and grew revenue by only about 22%.
SpaceX plans to list its Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America leading the offering. The dual-class share structure means going public will not meaningfully reduce Musk’s control, as Class B shares he holds carry 10 votes per share compared to one vote for public Class A shares.
The company is targeting a raise of around $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO ever. The investor roadshow is reportedly planned for June 5.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon just joined forces for one reason: Starlink is winning.
America’s three largest wireless carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, announced on On May 14, 2026 that they had agreed in principle to form a joint venture aimed at pooling their spectrum resources to expand satellite-based direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity across the United States in what can be seen as a direct response to SpaceX’s Starlink initiative. D2D, in plain terms, is technology that lets a standard smartphone connect directly to a satellite in orbit, the same way it connects to a cell tower, with no extra hardware required.
The alliance is widely seen as a means to slow Starlink’s rapid expansion in the satellite internet and mobile markets. SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile service launched commercially in July 2025 through a partnership with T-Mobile, starting with messaging before expanding to broadband data. SpaceX secured access to valuable wireless spectrum through its $17 billion deal with EchoStar, paving the way for significantly faster satellite-to-phone speeds.
SpaceX was not shy about its reaction. SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell responded on X: “Weeeelllll, I guess Starlink Mobile is doing something right! It’s David and Goliath (X3) all over again — I’m bettin’ on David.” SpaceX’s VP of Satellite Policy David Goldman went further, flagging potential antitrust concerns and asking whether the DOJ would even allow three dominant competitors to coordinate in a market where a new rival is actively entering.
Weeeelllll, I guess @Starlink Mobile is doing something right! It’s David and Goliath (X3) all over again — I’m bettin’ on David 🙂 https://t.co/5GzS752mxL
— Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell) May 14, 2026
Financial analysts at LightShed Partners were blunt, saying the announcement showed the three carriers are “nervous,” and pointed to the timing: “You announce an agreement in principle when the point is the announcement, not the deal. The timing, weeks ahead of the SpaceX roadshow, was the point.”
As Teslarati reported, SpaceX’s next generation Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current system, with custom silicon and phased array antennas enabling around 20 times the throughput of the first generation. The carriers’ JV, which has no definitive agreement, no financial structure, and no deployment timeline yet, will need to move quickly to matter.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is targeting a Nasdaq listing as early as June 12, aiming for what would be the largest IPO in history. With Starlink now serving over 9 million subscribers across 155 countries, holding 59 carrier partnerships globally, and now powering Air Force One, the carriers’ joint venture announcement landed at exactly the wrong time to look like anything other than a defensive move.
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