Investor's Corner
Elon Musk dubs Moody’s “irrelevant” after firm stands by TSLA’s junk credit rating
Tesla may have maintained its profitability and growth while absolutely dominating the electric vehicle industry, but for Moody’s Corporation, the electric vehicle maker is still rated “junk.” An explanation for this was recently shared online, though for CEO Elon Musk, what Moody’s thinks about Tesla doesn’t really matter.
Tesla retail investors, particularly some who are quite active on Twitter, have observed that the electric vehicle maker’s Ba1 rating from Moody’s — the highest among junk ratings — doesn’t quite make sense, considering that Tesla is pretty much the only carmaker that is still growing at a meaningful rate today. Among these was retail investor Alexandra Merz, who contacted Moody’s to inquire about the matter.
Moody’s analyst Rene Lipsch responded to the retail investor, noting that Tesla’s junk status is due to factors that are more qualitative than quantitative. Lipsch also mentioned a variety of factors that affect Moody’s less-than-optimistic outlook on Tesla, such as the company’s narrow product lineup.
Following is the analyst’s response in full.
Dear Mrs. Merz,
Thank you for reaching out to us. For reference, I copied below our considerations for an upgrade of Tesla (see press release January 24 h). The considerations are not so much of a quantitative nature, but more qualitative. Importantly, we are looking for a broadening of the company’s product lineup. Today, Tesla remains narrowly reliant on primarily two models, albeit highly successful ones. Note also in this respect that one of the models was first introduced in 2017. More concrete prospects for a broader vehicle lineup would be regarded as a positive development in this respect.
The ratings could be upgraded if Tesla successfully expands its global footprint, maintains a strong competitive global presence as other automakers offer an increasing number of battery electric models, and improves its product breadth. Tesla’s ability to sustain an EBITA margin of at least 7% (measured excluding the contribution from emission credits), and a consistent, prudent financial policy are also important considerations for higher ratings. Further, Tesla will need to maintain very good liquidity, including ample cash and considerable committed availability under its revolving credit facility.
Best regards,
Rene
Moody’s response promptly caught the attention of notable retail TSLA investors, including YouTube content creator Dave Lee. The content creator noted that Moody’s claim that Tesla is not investment grade was “ridiculous.” Musk later responded to Lee’s tweet, stating that “Moody’s is irrelevant.”
Tesla Board Member Hiro Mizuno also commented on Moody’s reasons behind Tesla’s junk rating. Mizuno pointed out that the variety of a company’s product portfolio should not be that relevant, especially as many companies typically see massive growth with one extremely successful product. That being said, the Tesla Board Member did note that he appreciates the fact that Moody’s responded to Tesla retail investors to explain their stance on the EV maker.
Interestingly enough, Moody’s Rene Lipsch was featured in a discussion on Bloomberg about what he believes are effective strategies in the EV sector. When asked if he appreciated a focused, streamlined approach to electric vehicles, such as the one adopted by Tesla and is now also being adopted by Ford, Lipsch noted that he likes Ford’s decision to target a few automotive segments with a few focused EVs.
Disclaimer: I am long TSLA.
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Elon Musk
Tesla AI boss reveals how big Optimus is going to get
Tesla’s Optimus chief corrected himself on X, confirming a staggering 10 million robot production target.
Tesla’s Optimus program has a new number attached to it, after Ashok Elluswamy, the executive who has run the humanoid robot program since June 2025, posted a three word correction on X Thursday, “Correction, 10 million robots.”
The line clarifies the long term annual capacity Tesla is building toward its planned second Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas, a figure Musk has cited repeatedly since last year’s shareholder meeting.
The scale is worth noting, because ten million robots a year would mean Tesla building more units annually than most countries sell in new cars. Tesla has framed this as a second line, not the first. The buildout is happening in two phases: a roughly one million unit per year line inside Tesla’s Fremont factory, installed on the floor space vacated when Model S and Model X production ended earlier this year, and a much larger dedicated facility under construction at Giga Texas that broke ground on its first steel structure in May. That Texas facility is the one Elluswamy’s correction refers to, and is expected to reach volume production sometime in 2027.
Correction, 10 million robots https://t.co/0z4nyQNTzp
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 30, 2026
Tesla Optimus project fires up as Musk sees production line progress
Elluswamy took over Optimus from Milan Kovac last summer and has spent the months since talking up the program’s trajectory. Elon Musk has also floated the ten million figure at Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting.
Ending Model S and Model X production to make room for the first Optimus line was one of the more consequential manufacturing decisions in the company’s recent history, retiring two flagship vehicles in favor of a robot that has yet to enter mass production. Musk has previously estimated per unit production costs at $20,000 to $25,000 once Tesla reaches a million units a year, though he hasn’t said what that cost looks like at ten times the volume.
Elon Musk
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
SpaceX just picked up another $1.6 billion from the Pentagon, with the U.S. Space Force awarding two task orders worth $1.6 billion to fly 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027. The launches will carry satellites for the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, a set of programs meant to help the military detect and track airborne threats and relay that information across forces in near real time.
The award falls under National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1, the Space Force’s faster, commercial style procurement track for missions that do not require the military’s most demanding certification process. It is also the largest single order publicly disclosed under that program so far, and the first task order issued since the Space Force nearly tripled Lane 1’s contract ceiling from $5.6 billion to $17 billion on July 17.
SpaceX to become America’s Military data backbone for missiles, drones, and warfighters
Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, said the entire process, from identifying the requirement to signing the contract, took about two months, including a month set aside for companies to prepare proposals.
SpaceX is not just launching these satellites. It already holds the contracts to build two of the programs within the same portfolio, $4.16 billion for the Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator system and $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, which Teslarati covered in May. That means SpaceX is now responsible for both building key pieces of the military’s next generation sensing network and getting them into orbit.
With this latest award, SpaceX’s Pentagon contract total for 2026 alone tops $8 billion, adding to a defense portfolio that already includes the Golden Dome missile defense software group SpaceX joined in April and a string of GPS launches it inherited after ULA’s Vulcan rocket ran into a booster anomaly, which we detailed in March.
Lane 1’s vendor pool technically includes seven companies: SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Stoke Space, Impulse Space, and Relativity Space. In practice, SpaceX remains the only provider with the combination of launch cadence, flight proven Falcon 9 hardware, and West Coast infrastructure to support a campaign requiring roughly one Vandenberg launch a month for the next year and a half.
Some lawmakers have flagged the growing concentration of national security launches with one company as a risk worth watching. For now, the Space Force keeps backing SpaceX, with it being the company that shows up ready to launch.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX gets an absolutely crazy price target after rough IPO
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.

