Investor's Corner
Tesla dips amid ‘meager’ Model 3 demand claims despite TSLA’s China, Europe push
Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped to nearly 5-month lows on Monday, trading as low as $256.02 per share, the lowest since October 22, 2018. The drop in the electric car maker’s shares transpired amidst Wall St’s continued concerns over alleged Model 3 demand issues and Elon Musk’s recent initiative to raise the price of Tesla’s inventory vehicles by ~3%.
RBC analyst Joseph Spak recently cut his price target for Tesla shares by $35 to $210 each in a note published on Monday. Spak trimmed his Q1 2019 Model 3 delivery forecasts to 52,500. This number is 4,500 less than Spak’s previous estimates over what he cited as “meager demand” for the electric sedan. Apart from Spak, JMP Securities analyst Joseph Osha lowered his price target for Tesla by 3% to $394 per share. Osha cites the US market’s weakness and Tesla’s closing of its galleries as among the drivers behind his more conservative stance, though the analyst noted that JMP continues to believe in Tesla’s long-term narrative.
“As we have moved through the first part of 2019, it is becoming apparent that Tesla’s efforts to pull demand into 4Q before the federal tax credit expired worked well, perhaps better than the company had planned. Indeed, based on our analysis we are not sure that U.S. demand will return to 4Q18 levels at any point this year. It is worth reiterating that our investment stance on Tesla has always been based on the potential the company has to make competitive gains over time. The undeniably challenging environment that Tesla faces at the moment is not enough to impact our fundamental stance on the company and its prospects,” Osha wrote.
Concerns about the Model 3’s weakening demand might be overblown, especially considering that Tesla is currently focusing its push for the vehicle in territories outside the United States. This is a key point that seems to be neglected in recent mainstream analysis of the company’s strategy this quarter, as revealed in a recent piece on Model 3 demand from The New York Times. Citing new-car registrations compiled by the Dominion Cross-Sell Report, which concluded that new Tesla registrations “fell significantly” in the 23 US states covered in the report, the publication suggested that the numbers are a worrisome sign for the electric car maker.
While the NYT‘s hypothesis with Tesla’s lower registrations in the US should not be discounted, the company’s lower registration numbers could be explained by Tesla simply not delivering as many vehicles in the United States this quarter compared to Q4 2018. Since January, Tesla has been pushing the Model 3 to Europe and China, two markets that have been waiting for the electric sedan. This is a notable contrast to Tesla’s strategy in the fourth quarter, when all of its production and deliveries were focused in North America. Until Tesla reveals its delivery figures in Europe and China on its Q1 2019 production and delivery report, it seems too early to make assumptions about the sedan’s overall demand, or lack thereof.
To be clear, this doesn’t affect Tesla website order prices. Existing inventory prices are currently slightly lower than on website. This will bring them in line.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2019
Tesla is nearing the end of Q1 2019, and the company is putting all hands on deck. A recently shared email from Elon Musk has revealed that the CEO is urging the company’s employees to shift their focus on delivering cars to customers, regardless of their role. Musk was optimistic in his message, stating “This is the biggest wave in Tesla’s history, but it is primarily a function of our first delivery of mass manufactured cars on two continents simultaneously, and will not be repeated in subsequent quarters.” Musk has also announced that Tesla is increasing the price of inventory cars worldwide by ~3% on April 1. The changes would not be affecting the current prices of Tesla’s existing vehicles, and is only intended to bring the costs of inventory cars in line.
As of writing, Tesla shares are starting to recover, trading down 1.18% at $261.41 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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