Investor's Corner
Tesla stock: analysts cut targets, mull demand and growth after Q4 miss
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) analysts are responding to the company’s fourth-quarter delivery miss by cutting price targets and mulling over demand and growth.
Tesla reported its delivery and production figures for 2022 and the fourth quarter yesterday, reporting 405,278 deliveries and 439,701 produced during the year’s final three months. Tesla delivered 1,313,851 cars in 2022, producing 1,369,611.
Tesla (TSLA) Q4 and FY 2022 deliveries reach new highs, but below analyst expectations
Analysts expected closer to 415,000 deliveries in Q4. Although Tesla recorded its biggest year to date and its most successful quarter in company history, they are concerned the company could be facing demand issues despite still holding a majority of the U.S. electric vehicle market and performing well in competitive markets like China and Europe.
JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman lowered his price target on Tesla from $150 to $125 while noting to clients that subsequent delivery misses could be potentially detrimental to the long-term outlook on the stock.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives said Tesla and Musk should outline attainable and realistic delivery targets in 2023. Ives believes 40 percent delivery growth in 2023 would be “respectable,” but the miss in Q4 does not present any super positive connotations as Tesla heads into the new year. “A miss is a miss,” he said.
Goldman Sachs also reduced its Tesla price target from $235 to $205. However, one of its main concerns was whether Tesla could combat potential demand slumps, which it said in its note to investors that it believes the automaker can recover, with indicators pointing to Q2 2023, the firm said.
Morgan Stanley reiterated its $250 price target. “Tesla’s 4Q deliveries, while slightly higher than we had expected, are broadly consistent with our views that EV supply may be recovering faster than EV demand, reflecting a material narrative change in the scarcity of EVs on a global basis,” Adam Jonas said.
Morgan Stanley expected Tesla to deliver 399,000 units in Q4.
2023: Make or Break year for Tesla?
2023 has plenty of catalysts for Tesla, at least according to the company’s own agenda. This year, Tesla plans to launch production of the Cybertruck, announce a new Gigafactory location in North America, and update the Model 3 sedan.
Cybertruck production will be limited at first but is scheduled to hit “mass production” by the end of the year. While significant impacts on Tesla’s delivery numbers will likely not be made by the Cybertruck this year, the rollout of the vehicle will be monumental as it recently reached a two-year delay. Slated to begin deliveries in late 2020, Tesla delayed production as it navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Production was delayed further while Tesla focused on scaling production of the Model Y at Gigafactory Texas and withstood uncertain economic tides in 2022.
New Gigafactory locations, especially in North America, could prove to be a significant catalyst for the stock as it would indicate demand strengthening for Tesla. Reports have suggested Mexico will end up being the location for Tesla’s next production facility, but the company has not confirmed this.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Tesla enters two new markets on two different continents in one week
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
