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Tesla’s $10 ‘bear case’ from Morgan Stanley highlights the noise surrounding TSLA

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Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) looked alarming right before the markets opened on Tuesday amidst news that Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas had lowered the electric car maker’s “bear case outcome” to just $10 per share, a steep drop from his initial worst-case scenario estimate of $97 per share. The analyst’s findings dealt a blow to Tesla stock during pre-market trading, pushing shares down by over 3% at one point.

The Morgan Stanley analyst’s worst-case estimate was driven in part by concerns about Tesla’s business in China, which would likely be adversely affected by the ongoing trade war between the country and the United States. According to Jonas, Tesla could generate about $9 billion in revenues in China between 2020 and 2024, but if Beijing targets the company with reprisal tariffs and restrictions, that figure could be halved, resulting in more than $16 billion of the electric car maker’s market value getting wiped out.

“Our revised case assumes Tesla misses our current Chinese volume forecast by roughly half, to account for the highly volatile trade situation in the region, particularly around areas of technology, which we believe run a high and increasing risk of government/regulatory attention. We believe as Tesla’s share price declines, the likelihood of the company potentially seeking alternatives from strategic/industrial/financial partners rises,” Jonas noted.

The analyst’s radical $10 estimate for Tesla unsurprisingly attracted a lot of attention, and it did not take long before news of Morgan Stanley’s updated views made the rounds online. What was not reported as much was that Adam Jonas kept his $230 price target on TSLA stock, as well as his equal-weight rating for the company under the firm’s best-case scenario. Also left out in a number of reports was Morgan Stanley’s best-case price target of $391, which is actually pretty optimistic considering the recent movements of Tesla stock.

Other personalities in the financial world eventually gave their take on Jonas’ worst-case scenario for Tesla. Jim Cramer, who has traded barbs with Elon Musk in the past, described the $10 estimate as “insane” and a simple gimmick. “Setting a price target of $10 on a $200 stock really is insane. How about $8? How about $12? Ten basically says, ‘I want to get talked about. Let’s talk about me,’” Cramer said, adding that “if he had done $47 would we have talked about him? No, but 10. Ten is right in your face. I question this piece of research.”

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Cathie Wood of ARK Invest, who still maintains a positive stance on the company, also questioned the Morgan Stanley analyst’s findings. “Also interesting to note, Jonas cut his worst-case price by more than 90% but left his price target unchanged at $230. So, I guess he is suggesting that the probability of the bear case has dropped significantly, and/ or the probability of the bull case has increased,” Wood wrote on Twitter.

The Tesla Model 3 production line. (Photo: Tesla)

Considering the pervading negativity surrounding Tesla’s narrative today, it is unsurprising to see aspects of Morgan Stanley’s recent note getting misinterpreted. A look at social media platforms such as Twitter, for example, would reveal some Tesla critics stating that the $10 worst-case estimate was Morgan Stanley’s new price target for TSLA stock. This is untrue, but these instances all but highlight how easy it is for misconceptions about the electric car maker could spread.

This pervading negativity is seen in the mainstream coverage of the company. On Monday, Dan Ives from Wedbush Securities cut his price target and penned a scathing note to Tesla, even describing Elon Musk’s initiatives such as Full Self-Driving and the Robotaxi network as “sci-fi projects.” Ives’ statements on Monday garnered widespread attention, significantly more than his comments on Tuesday, when he explained that he does not think Tesla will eventually file for bankruptcy. Ives also noted on Tuesday that Tesla could return to profitability in the future, provided that demand is sustained and costs are cut.

At this point, it appears that the time is right for Tesla to adopt a more assertive PR strategy that is ready to debunk misinformation and clarify misconceptions at a moment’s notice. By doing so, Tesla can lay out its case clearly, providing explanations as necessary and leaving little to speculation. This would require constant vigilance on the part of the electric car maker, but it would help, at least by straightening out the facts of a story. These initiatives, coupled with an aggressive information campaign that dispels misconceptions about the company and its vehicles, could ultimately allow Tesla to change the course of its narrative for the better.

As of writing, Tesla stock is trading -0.29% at $204.76 per share.

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Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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SpaceX (SPCX) IPO is live today at $135: Here’s exactly what you need to know

SpaceX priced its historic IPO at $135 per share today, raising a record $75 billion.

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SpaceX officially priced its initial public offering at $135 per share, offering 555,555,555 shares of Class A common stock and raising $75 billion in what is the largest IPO in stock market history. Shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday, June 12, under the ticker symbol SPCX. The previous record holder was Saudi Aramco’s 2019 offering at $29 billion, followed by Alibaba’s $22 billion offering in 2014.

At $135 per share and roughly 555.6 million shares, the implied valuation sits near $1.75 trillion, which would make SpaceX roughly the seventh largest company in the United States, just above Tesla’s current market cap. Regular investors can request shares at the IPO price through Robinhood, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, SoFi, and E*TRADE, though the deal is heavily oversubscribed and most retail allocations will be partial or unfilled. Once trading opens June 12, anyone with a brokerage account can buy SPCX on the open market.

SpaceX’s amended S-1 is sparking a major Tesla merger conversation

 

The valuation is anchored primarily by Starlink. Starlink crossed 10 million subscribers as of February 2026 and is adding 750,000 to 1.5 million new users per month, with the connectivity segment already posting a $1.19 billion profit last quarter. The offering also bundles in xAI following SpaceX’s all-stock merger earlier this year, adding Grok and the Colossus supercomputer to the investment thesis. As Teslarati reported, Starlink ended 2025 with $10 billion in revenue, a figure analysts project could reach $24 billion by end of 2026.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has been vocal in his support. “I think the time is right,” Ives said, adding that the offering expands the Elon Musk ecosystem rather than competing with Tesla. An average 12-month price target of $165 per share represents roughly 22% upside from the IPO price. Not everyone agrees – Motley Fool noted xAI is spending $1 billion per month playing catch-up to OpenAI and Anthropic.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with a single stated purpose. “Elon founded SpaceX with a goal to change humanity, to make us a multi-planet species,” CFO Bret Johnsen said in the company’s retail roadshow video this week. Musk himself has been more direct: “We are building the systems and technologies necessary to provide global connectivity on Earth and beyond, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”

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Investor's Corner

Tesla unfolded its first European “folding Supercharger”

Tesla’s folding Supercharger just arrived in Europe and it changes how fast charging expands.

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Tesla’s Folding Unit Supercharger has officially landed in Europe, with the company teasing a new installation in its effort for a broader rollout targeting major motorway rest stops across the European continent in Q3 2026. The arrival marks a notable shift in how Tesla is thinking about network expansion, moving from hardware performance alone to engineering the logistics chain itself.

While Tesla did not reveal the exact location for the new folding Supercharger in Europe, the photo shared on X heavily suggests that this maybe somewhere in Norway. Historically, whenever Tesla rolls out an entirely new infrastructure architecture in Europe, whether it was the original Supercharger stalls years ago or these brand-new modular V4 “Folding Units”, Norway is almost always the designated launch pad because of its unmatched EV adoption rate and supportive infrastructure

The Folding Unit, introduced in March 2026, is a factory pre-assembled V4 charging station built on an industrial hinge system mounted to a heavy-duty concrete base. The entire assembly arrives on site ready to unfold and connect. Tesla confirmed the units feature telescopic light poles specifically designed for easy transportation and fast on-site deployment, a detail that signals how carefully the logistics chain has been engineered alongside the hardware itself. The design allows 33% more stalls per delivery truck, cuts installation time roughly in half, and reduces overall deployment costs by more than 20% compared to traditional installations.

Tesla’s newest “Folding V4 Superchargers” are key to its most aggressive expansion yet

Tesla also noted telescopic light poles which provide benefits over traditional Supercharger installations that require fixed-height poles that are awkward to ship, slow to position on site, and often require separate crews and equipment to erect before charging hardware can even be staged. By engineering poles that compress for transit and extend on arrival, Tesla has removed one of the quieter bottlenecks in the physical deployment process. Every hour saved on a light pole installation is an hour redirected toward getting stalls energized. At scale, across dozens of new sites per quarter, those hours add up to a meaningful acceleration in how quickly a location goes from approved permit to serving its first customer.

Each Folding Unit pairs a single V4 power cabinet with eight charging posts. The V4 cabinet delivers up to 500 kW per stall for passenger vehicles and up to 1.2 MW for the Tesla Semi, supporting twice the stalls per cabinet at three times the power density of its predecessor. Longer cables make every new station immediately usable by non-Tesla vehicles, a priority as Tesla continues opening its network to Ford, GM, Rivian, Hyundai, Stellantis, and others.

As Teslarati reported when the Folding Unit was first unveiled, Tesla’s Gigafactory New York produced its final V3 Supercharger cabinet in March 2026 after more than seven years and 15,000 units, completing a full pivot to V4 production. The European arrival of the folding design is the next chapter in that transition.

Faster and cheaper deployment means Tesla can justify building in markets and corridors that were previously too expensive to serve, filling the coverage gaps that have slowed EV adoption outside major urban centers.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Full Self-Driving hits Level 4? One analyst says yes

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.

However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.

Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.

Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.

Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.

He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.

Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.

Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.

That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.

Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.

“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.

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