Investor's Corner
Morgan Stanley, Baird weigh in on Tesla (TSLA) following Monday’s slide
After Monday’s steep dive, Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) received a vote of confidence from several Wall St. analysts who reiterated their support for the electric car maker. The new optimistic outlook for Tesla’s stock comes amidst the aftermath of a Wall Street Journal stating that the company asked suppliers for refunds to help it reach profitability.
In a recently published note, Baird analyst Ben Kallo stated that the recent selloff of Tesla stock is a huge buying opportunity for investors. Kallo did not provide a direct comment on the WSJ article, though he did state that the market’s reaction to the report seems to be overly negative. The analyst reiterated his Outperform rating on Tesla stock, keeping a price target of $411 on the company’s shares.
“We hesitated to comment on the WSJ article, but believe the stock reaction is overly negative. We believe contract negotiations are an effort to increase profitability, rather than a sign TSLA is looking to reinforce its balance sheet. Based on the available information, we view this report as a further step in TSLA’s progression towards profitability rather than as a necessity to strengthen the company’s balance sheet. We think bear arguments that renegotiations are necessary to sustain TSLA’s balance sheet are overly exaggerated.
“We think it is unlikely TSLA would be asking for concessions from a position of weakness, and think the report could indicate TSLA production is ramping. We are buyers on any weakness, although we expect bears could pile on ahead of the quarter.”
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas stated that the “push and pull” of media reports on Tesla has added a layer of risk to evaluating the electric car maker in the short term. Nevertheless, Jonas stated that he believes Tesla is currently trading at fair value, adding that higher average selling prices on the company’s vehicles could prove to be the margin booster that Tesla has been waiting on.
Consumer Edge Research senior analyst James Albertine has also weighed in on the recent movement of Tesla stock. In a segment on Bloomberg Markets: The Open, Albertine stated that regardless of negative reports about the company, Tesla still appears to be on its way to profitability.
“Let’s take a step back from the unbelievable number of headlines that come out hourly on this name. (Tesla is) a company that is well on their way to profitability, we think, predicated on the ramp of the Model 3. The need to raise cash is because there’s such great demand for the products that they’ve created.
“There’s a lot of good things about Tesla that get lost in these discussions between quarterly results, and we’re very impressed by their ability to get to 5,000 units per week at the end of June. That was something no one thought was possible as of the first quarter. It is unfortunate that we have to parry all these different issues day in and day out, but we do believe underpinning all of this, is an incredible demand for an incredible product.”
Tesla stock took a beating on Monday’s trading, at one point going down more than 5% and hitting as low as $293.57 per share. Over the day, and as Tesla released an official statement responding to the Wall Street Journal report, the stock leveled out, ending at $303.20 on Monday.
Tesla stock will likely continue to exhibit volatility as the company approaches the date for its Q2 2018 financial results and earnings call, which is set to be held after market close on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. Despite sustained downward pressure from Wall St., Tesla is continuing its push to ramp Model 3 production and deliveries through the third quarter. With initiatives such as test drive programs for the Model 3, a 5-minute Sign & Drive system, as well as the possibility of adopting a digital contract when purchasing its cars, Tesla appears incredibly determined to prove that it could be profitable this third quarter.
As of writing, Tesla is trading down 2.30% at $296.24 per share.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
Elon Musk
Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Elon Musk confirmed Starmind as SpaceX’s AI satellite constellation name, targeting one million orbital compute nodes.
Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX’s planned AI satellite constellation, following a trademark filing by xAI that surfaced earlier this week. Starmind is what’s being described to the FCC as a constellation of up to one million AI satellites
It’s worth noting that SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellite and Starmind are built on the same orbital infrastructure concept but serve entirely different purposes. Starlink is a connectivity network, with satellites receiving and relaying data between points on Earth, and functioning as a high-speed internet backbone in space. The satellites themselves do not process or think, and move information from one place to another, the same function a fiber cable performs underground.
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
Starmind, on the other hand, is something completely different, and tather than moving data, its satellites would compute data through artificial intelligence and directly in orbit using onboard processors powered by large solar arrays. Where a Starlink satellite is essentially a very fast pipe, a Starmind satellite is a server. The practical implication is that Starmind would allow AI models to run inference, process queries, and generate outputs from space, then beam results down to users anywhere on Earth within milliseconds, and without the data ever needing to travel to a terrestrial data center.
Starship will be able to carry 30 to 50 AI1 satellites per launch, delivering the equivalent of dozens of server racks per flight, with no land acquisition, no power grid approval, and no cooling infrastructure required on the ground.
SpaceX is pursuing this new technology as terrestrial data centers are running into hard limits such as lack of physical space, community opposition, and power and water consumption at a scale that is increasingly difficult to permit. Space has unlimited solar power, natural vacuum cooling, and no zoning boards. Musk said in a June 8 video presentation that he expects space to become the lowest-cost location to deploy AI compute within two to three years. Two AI1 prototypes are scheduled to launch in early 2027, with volume production targeted for the end of that year at a new facility called Gigasat.
The real world applications Starmind enables extend well beyond powering Grok. A constellation of orbiting AI processors could run inference workloads for any paying customer, anywhere on Earth, with latency measured in milliseconds rather than the seconds associated with ground-based cloud routing across continents. Starmind, if it scales as described, would make SpaceX the landlord of AI compute the same way Starlink made it the landlord of satellite internet.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX makes $20 billion move to optimize its balance sheet
SpaceX announced today that it commenced its first-ever public bond offering, marking a significant step in the newly public company’s capital markets strategy.
The company announced an offering of senior unsecured notes expected to raise at least $20 billion.
The move comes just a short time after SpaceX completed one of the largest initial public offerings in history. In mid-June, the company priced shares at $135 and raised more than $85 billion, propelling founder Elon Musk’s net worth past the trillion-dollar mark and giving the firm substantial liquidity.
🚨 SpaceX has announced its inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes.
The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding loans under its bridge loan facility in full.
This inaugural debt offering represents a financing milestone for SpaceX, which previously depended… pic.twitter.com/pcOZuVbTRv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
According to the company’s SEC filing, the net proceeds from the notes will be used primarily to repay in full the outstanding borrowings under its existing bridge loan facility, cover related fees and expenses, and fund general corporate purposes. The offering is being conducted under Rule 144A, as well as Regulation S, targeting qualified institutional buyers and non-U.S. investors. Notes will be unsecured obligations ranking equally with other unsubordinated debt.
The $20 billion bridge loan was used to refinance approximately $17.5 billion in higher-cost “junk” debt tied to X and xAI. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock deal. The bridge facility, which matures in September 2027, had represented the bulk of SpaceX’s long-term debt.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
In connection with the bond launch, SpaceX disclosed it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Investor calls began on the announcement date, with pricing and launch expected shortly thereafter. Rating agencies have assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed bonds, reflecting confidence in SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial launches and the growth trajectory of its Starlink internet offering.
The debt raise also allows SpaceX to optimize its balance sheet by replacing short-term, higher-cost bridge financing with longer-date, lower-cost fixed-income securities. This provides greater financial flexibility to support capital-intensive initiatives, including the development of Starship, the expansion of the Starlink constellation, and the integration of AI capabilities following the xAI combination.
SpaceX shares (NASDAQ: SPCX) fell sharply on the news, dropping over 16 percent overall on the market on Monday. The stock had surged initially after debuting but pulled back amid profit-taking and broader market dynamics.
Overall, the bond offering underscores SpaceX’s transition to a mature public company with access to diverse funding sources. It positions the firm to pursue its long-term vision of multiplanetary expansion and AI infrastructure, while maintaining a disciplined approach to its capital structure in a high-growth but capital-heavy industry.