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.
In a striking revelation that underscores the lucrative crossover between Big Tech and space exploration, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, disclosed a massive $94.1 billion equity stake in SpaceX following the rocket company’s blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year.
The disclosure came in Alphabet’s quarterly filing, marking the first time the long-held private investment has been publicly valued at market prices. Google was an early backer, investing alongside Fidelity in 2015 with roughly $500-900 million at a time when SpaceX was valued around $12 billion.
That bet has delivered extraordinary returns, roughly a hundredfold, transforming a strategic play on satellite internet and launch capabilities into one of Alphabet’s largest assets.
Google, $GOOGL, has said they hold $94 billion in SpaceX, $SPCX, shares after IPO.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 23, 2026
Of the total holding, approximately $80 billion remains subject to short-term post-IPO lockup restrictions, preventing near-term sales. An additional $14.1 billion faces longer-term restrictions, extending into the third quarter of 2027. This structure limits immediate liquidity but protects against market volatility as SpaceX transitions into public trading.
The SpaceX position contributed significantly to gains in Alphabet’s broader investment portfolio, which also includes a major stake in AI leader Anthropic. Combined, these holdings helped drive nearly $100 billion in investment gains during the second quarter, providing a substantial boost to net income amid ongoing AI spending pressures.
Analysts view the disclosure as validation of Alphabet’s venture strategy beyond its core search and cloud businesses. The investment aligns with deeper ties, including reported multi-billion-dollar deals for AI computing capacity on SpaceX infrastructure. As SpaceX advances Starship flights, Starlink expansion, and ambitious Mars goals under Elon Musk, Google’s stake positions it to benefit from the commercialization of space.
For Alphabet, the windfall highlights how patient, forward-looking bets in transformative sectors can yield outsized rewards. While lockups temper short-term impact, the holding cements SpaceX as a cornerstone of Alphabet’s diversified portfolio in an era where aerospace, AI, and connectivity increasingly intersect. Investors will watch closely as restrictions lift and SpaceX’s public performance unfolds.
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Elon Musk told investors Semi self-driving should start working by early 2027, per today’s earnings.
During Wednesday’s’ Tesla Q2 earnings call, an analyst asked Elon Musk when Tesla would look at autonomy for the Semi. His answer set a real timeline for the first time, noting that self-driving on the Tesla Semi is expected to start working “around the end of this year or early next year”.
Musk framed the delay as a matter of priority, not capability. Tesla’s self-driving team is currently focused on Model 3, Model Y, and Cybercab, the vehicles that make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s fleet. Since Semi trucks on the road remain a small fraction of that total even after the recent Nevada factory ramp, Musk said it made more sense to keep the software team’s attention on what he called “the march of nines of safety” for the higher volume vehicles first. Autonomous Semi development is “taking a bit of a backseat for the next six months or so,” he said, before adding that it “will definitely be working next year and in time for the scale-up to high production of the Tesla Semi.”
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
The timeline lines up with what’s already been showing up on public roads. In June, a Tesla Semi was spotted in Sunnyvale wearing a full validation rig, the same rooftop sensor array Tesla mounts on vehicles ahead of an FSD milestone.
A second unit was seen near Fremont days later with a matching camera suite and lens washers. Separately, Tesla analyst Nic Cruz Patane posted video this month of the production Semi’s exterior camera array, ten AI4 based units built directly into the truck rather than added later.
Tesla Semi AI4 cameras. The production version has 10 cameras on its exterior.
These trucks are designed to be autonomous. pic.twitter.com/GH3BamxIBQ
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) April 14, 2026
Musk also gave the reason autonomy on the Semi matters in the first place, a persistent shortage of qualified truck drivers. “There is a really serious shortage of truckers,” he said on the call, framing a self-driving Semi as important both for addressing that shortage and for improving safety and comfort for the drivers running the truck today.
The timing also tracks with the Semi’s production reality. Tesla’s Q2 shareholder letter, dropped language promising the Semi would reach volume production this year. Musk pointed to 4680 battery cell output as the near-term constraint on Semi and Cybercab production. A software timeline landing in early 2027 gives Tesla’s autonomy team room to work while the hardware ramp catches up behind it.
It’s worth nothing that this isn’t necessarily a promise the Semi ships driverless next year. Musk’s own language, self-driving “working” by early 2027, describes internal validation catching up to hardware already riding on every production truck, not a public unsupervised rollout.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Elon Musk claps back at France’s Tesla Full Self-Driving approval delay
Google’s massive stake in SpaceX will shock you
