Investor's Corner
Tesla’s strong Q3 financials catalyze price target increases from analysts
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) posted an incredibly strong third quarter last evening during its Earnings Call, making remarkable strides on its financials to extend its profitable quarters streak to nine. Analysts at numerous Wall Street firms are upgrading their price targets on Tesla stock following the company’s strong numbers and positive outlook moving forward as it intends to ramp its Texas and Berlin Gigafactories in the coming months.
Wedbush – Dan Ives
Starting with some of Tesla’s most notable bulls, Wedbush’s Daniel Ives boosted his price target to $1,100 from $1,000 while maintaining an Outperform rating. “Last night, Tesla delivered solid top-line results which were in-line with expectations and speaks to a new Tesla margin story going forward,” Ives wrote to investors. “Auto GM was 30%+ and roughly 250 bps ahead of Street expectations which highlights the massive leverage in the Tesla story now starting to take hold with Giga China front and center as Tesla is on an EBITDA run-rate of roughly $13 billion, a staggering number given the company is still in the early stages of building out its global EV moat.”
Tesla’s demand increases, which have resulted in delivery estimates extending well into 2022 are going to be handled by Giga Berlin and Giga Texas. “We believe EV demand is outstripping supply for Tesla by roughly 30k units and the chip shortage has clearly amplified this dynamic with wait times for Model Y and some Model 3’s extending into the spring for current orders,” Ives said. “However, big supply help is on the way for Musk & Co. as the long the awaited Gigafactory hubs in Austin and Berlin are set to have are set to have the ribbon cut over the coming months and should expand Tesla’s capacity to roughly 2 million units annually over the next 18 months.
Ives has a $1,500 price target for Tesla’s bull case, up from the $1,300 target he previously held. TipRanks has Ives ranked 18 out of 7,705 analysts, with an average return of 37.5% and a success rate of 79%.
Canaccord Genuity – Jed Dorsheimer
Dorsheimer raised his price target from $940 to $1,040 while maintaining a Buy rating. “Post Tesla’s 3Q21, we are maintaining our BUY rating and increasing out PT to $1,040, which is based on 45x our ’24 Adj. EBITDA estimate of $25.9B (previously $940 based on 55x of $19B). We are bullish on the auto gross margin expansion, and remain excited for battery constraints to abate and be reallocated to energy products later in 2022,” Dorsheimer wrote. “After reporting record delivery numbers a few weeks ago, a beat may have been priced in and shares could see a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ type pull back. We would be buyers at these levels and if any pullback occurs.”
TipRanks has Dorsheimer ranked 210 out of 7,705 analysts, with an average return of 32.9% and a success rate of 56%.
Deutsche Bank – Emmanuel Rosner
Rosner raised his price target on Tesla from $900 to $1,000, maintaining his Buy rating. The impressive measure of automotive gross margins was indicative of a strong operational performance, despite industry challenges like semiconductor and parts shortages.
“Tesla reported particularly strong 3Q21 operating performance, delivering its highest auto gross margins since Model 3 was introduced, despite minimal S+X volume and higher supply chain costs, and impressive GAAP operating margin of 14.6% (18.4% ex-SBC), surpassing even its long-term company targets,” Rosner wrote. Tesla also stated that, despite its low volume, the Model S has returned to profitability.
“While revenue came in somewhat below expectations, this was driven mainly by lower regulatory credit and services/other contributions, while auto revenue was more in-line. We leave our 2021E deliveries unchanged at 845k, but take up our auto GM (ex credit) to nearly 27% from <26%, and EPS to $6.45 (from $6.20 previously).”
Rosner holds a ranking of 1,339 out of 7,705 analysts with a 57% success rate and an average return of 14.3%, according to TipRanks.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
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
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