Investor's Corner
Tesla Q4 Earnings expectations boost stock two days before call
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) spiked in early trading hours during Monday’s session based on expectations that the automaker could deliver its sixth-consecutive profitable quarter.
On January 2, Tesla released Delivery and Production figures for Q4 2020, indicating the company’s biggest quarter to date. With 180,570 deliveries and 179,757 cars produced, Tesla attained its 2020 production guidance but fell short of its delivery goal by 450 cars. This figure could be revised on Wednesday; the company indicated in its Delivery and Production report figures could vary by .5%.
Nevertheless, the strong figures have analysts and investors keen on Tesla delivering strong financial figures during the company’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call that will occur on Wednesday after market close. If the company reports positive figures, it will mark the sixth-straight quarter of profitability, and many are convinced it will happen based on the strong figures it announced for Q4 2020.
Monday morning’s session started Tesla stock at $846.64, but the automaker’s strong expectations had already made a considerable mark by 11 am EST. Tesla stock surged to over $900 at 10:02 am, reaching an all-time high of $900.39.
With the Earnings Call expectations solidified, Tesla investors are convinced CEO Elon Musk and others could reveal some relatively significant announcements. Some believe Tesla could finally announce the “Refresh” of its all-electric flagship sedan: the Model S. Teslarati released exclusive photographs of a Model S “Refresh” candidate spotted at Tesla’s Fremont Factory earlier this weekend, sporting some new exterior cosmetic features. Tesla has kept these developments under wraps, but there are some suspicions that the new vehicle could be announced during Wednesday’s call.
Additionally, Tesla has been releasing some new videos of its 4680 battery cell production lines and Model Y and Model 3 stamping processes, showing refined and rejuvenated manufacturing efforts. This is an offensive that Tesla has focused on for several years, especially as Musk and Tesla narrow in on a 1 million vehicle annual production rate. This goal is coming closer to reality through a series of manufacturing efficiencies and the introduction of new production plants in Europe and the United States.
Tesla’s China-based production facility, Giga Shanghai, has started producing and delivering the all-electric Model Y crossover. The car sold out quickly and deliveries are already backed up into Q2, Tesla’s website says. China’s strong thirst for Tesla EVs has played a positive role in the company’s reputation as the most-popular electric carmaker in the world, along with its increasing international presence.
Tesla stock surged over 700% in 2020 and is up another 16% so far in 2020. As the surge in stock price continues, Tesla focuses on increasing overall production, refining its self-driving infrastructure, and helping the world transition to sustainable transportation in a timely manner.
Tesla will report its Q4 2020 Earnings Call on Wednesday, January 27th at 3:30 pm PST, or 6:30 pm EST. At the time of writing, Tesla stock was trading at $862.04.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets its latest short from Michael Burry: ‘Happy it jumped back to this level’
Tesla short seller Michael Burry, the subject of the film “The Big Short,” where he was portrayed by Steve Carell, has revealed he has opened a new bet against the stock.
In a new update to his Substack newsletter in a post titled “Trading Post June 30, 2026,” Burry revealed a new set of bets against Tesla, Caterpillar, NVIDIA, Applied Materials Inc., and the iShares Semiconductor ETF.
In regard to Tesla, Burry wrote:
“And finally I shorted Tesla at 416.22. Happy it jumped back to this level.”
This means Burry likely opened his new short position after the company’s recent rally on Wall Street, which saw Tesla shares sink in mid-May, only to recover to well over the $400 mark. Currently, shares trade at around $427.
The company saw a big Tuesday as shares climbed considerably, over 10 percent. The size of the Tesla short was not provided, nor did Burry give any information on the position’s structure, the number of shares, dollar value, or whether options were used in the short.
The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building
Over the years, Burry has been one of the more vocal critics of Tesla, calling its share price “media inflated,” and saying it was “ridiculously overvalued” as recently as December.
The company has largely transitioned away from being known as an automotive company and instead is much more widely regarded as an AI play, mostly due to its Full Self-Driving efforts, Optimus robot development, and data collection related to both.
This has not pulled those skeptics away from being vocal about their distaste for how Tesla is valued, but there’s no denying that the company is a global force in many things, including sustainable energy, automotive, and AI.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX gets initial stock coverage from Tesla’s biggest bull
Wedbush Securities is initiating stock coverage on SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX), marking the first comments on the company since it went public several weeks ago. Wedbush and its analyst handling coverage, Dan Ives, are widely bullish on fellow Musk company Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Ives wrote his first note initiating coverage of SpaceX shares on Wednesday with a $190 price target and an ‘Outperform’ rating. The firm believes the company is well positioned off of its IPO because of its wide array of projects, including AI compute power and infrastructure, connectivity projects, and launches.
“We view SpaceX as one of the most differentiated assets within the tech market with a strong footprint across its three core markets, with Starlink driving success with connectivity,” Ives wrote, “Starship launches leading to a demand flywheel and increasing deal flow for its Colossus clusters.”
Elon Musk called it Epic: The full story of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12
Wedbush leans heavily on Starlink, which they say is the “profitability driver given the strength of its recurring revenue base of ~12 million subscribers as of June 5th.” Ives believes Starlink is still in the “early innings” of penetrating the global telecommunications and broadband market, as it only holds less than a 1 percent share. However, this number is sure to increase over time.
It also highlights the importance of Starship, which it says is an “essential layer” of SpaceX’s overall success. SpaceX developing and displaying the ability to reuse rockets is a major cost and reliability advantage “as it reduces the necessary hardware launch costs while generating a feedback loop for future flights to improve their launch flight rate without accelerating capex spend.”
Finally, SpaceX’s recent AI/Compute projects are also very elementary, Ives writes. It is worth mentioning Wedbush said its $190 price target is derived from a valuation forecast that sees the company yielding roughly $2.48 trillion of implied enterprise value.
There are also some factors that Wedbush did not take into account with its initial coverage. The firm wrote in the note:
“We note that there is optional value coming from Starship’s accelerating scale towards sub-$200/kg unit economics, orbital data centers, and enterprise AI monetization as these factors could drive meaningful upside but these face major hurdles, so we do not take that into account with our valuation.”
SpaceX shares are down just over 2 percent today, trading at around $167 at the time of publication.
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.