Investor's Corner
Wall St. can’t make up its mind about Tesla: TSLA ups and downs this quarter
Tesla’s portfolio of products and services extends well beyond transportation to energy storage systems and includes solar and energy storage products. As the world’s only vertically integrated energy company, Tesla is truly unique among alternative energy stock offerings. With end-to-end clean energy products — including generation, storage, and consumption — as well as an established a global network of vehicle stores, service centers, and Supercharger stations, Tesla is well situated to accelerate the widespread adoption of its line.
Many people admire Tesla, Inc. for its visionary approach to a sustainable future. Indeed, the company’s most recent SEC 10-K filing spoke to the company’s mission to provide an “intense focus to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport, ” a business model that differentiates Tesla from other manufacturers.
That report also pointed to possible market uncertainties which could affect the 2017 performance of the Tesla brand.
“We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, significant delays or other complications in the design, manufacture, launch and production ramp of new vehicles and other products such as our energy storage products and the solar roof, which could harm our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.”
As Q1 2017 nears its conclusion, this is a good stopping point to begin to review the ups and downs of the Tesla brand and how stock market analysts have assessed and questioned the resiliency and robust character of the stock.
A global look at TSLA
- Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) opened at $246.23 on Friday, March 3, 2017. Today, March 6, 2017, that number rose to $251.57 to start the day.
- Tesla‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by Deutsche Bank AG in a report released on Friday, March 3, 2017. Deutsche Bank AG had a $215.00 target price on the Tesla stock.
- Eight investment analysts have recently rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.33.
- Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. downgraded the Tesla stock from Neutral to a Sell rating after the company’s December quarter results. Like several other brokerages, the firm cited about cash requirements and worries on operational execution.
- Tesla has a 12 month low of $178.19 and a 12 month high of $287.39.
- The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $254.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.51.
- The company’s market cap is $38.17 billion.
Why analysts fail to come to consensus on Tesla stock valuation
As the first car company in a very long time to be homegrown and a real challenge to Detroit’s Big 3 automakers, Tesla experiences numerous influences on its stock value, from supply chain difficulties, to currency fluctuations, competition, and even factors like emotion and superstition. These factors can push the Tesla stock high and low, even within a short period of time. A closely watched stock like Tesla is often accused variously of being overvalued, misunderstood, or overextended.
Yet the demand for Tesla’s Model S and X, as well as initial orders for its more cost effective Model 3 sedan, have continued to support Tesla’s fiscal premises that U.S. and global citizens really want to own cleaner vehicles.
Tesla issued its 2016 Q4 earnings results on Wednesday, February 22, 2017 and reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.26. As 2017 began, Tesla stocks had accrued a number of positive analyst reports and had continued to rise since the 2016 presidential election. The firm earned $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share.
Analysts’ estimates of Tesla stock prior to the 2016 annual report
It’s interesting to look back over the past several months and see how variable and uncertain many analysts have been about Tesla. In a cultural climate in which the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression looms large in many people’s consciousnesses, it may be reasonable for many people to be skeptical about Tesla’s value. But, as with any revolutionary change in social thinking, Tesla will likely continue to experience its share of scrutiny as well as celebration as it contributes to a sustainable future.
- Deutsche Bank AG’s price target suggests a potential downside of 12.68% from the company’s current price as of March 3, 2017.
- TheStreet raised Tesla Motors from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th.
- Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $338.00 price target on shares of Tesla Motors in a research note on Thursday, January 5th.
- Global Equities Research reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Tesla Motors in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th.
- Cowen and Company reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target (down from $160.00) on shares of Tesla Motors in a research note on Sunday, December 4th.
- Vetr raised Tesla Motors from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $203.80 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
Elon Musk says SpaceX capex efficiency is underestimated as orbital data centers loom by 2028.
Elon Musk is pushing back on one of the biggest worries hanging over SpaceX stock. In a reply on X on Sunday, Musk said the company’s capital expenditure efficiency is severely underestimated. He was responding to a Milk Road Stocks post citing analyst Kyle Reidhead, who estimates SpaceX will need to spend roughly $470 billion over the next five quarters.
Reidhead built that figure around the target SpaceX set on its third quarter earnings call: 13 gigawatts or more of compute by the end of 2027. In his breakdown, Nvidia captures 83 to 89 percent of the spending. SpaceX ended the quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute and guided to $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth quarter capex, as Teslarati reported.
Musk did not attach a number to his claim, but the earnings call shows the argument. CFO Bret Johnsen said new compute currently pays for itself in under a year at today’s pricing, and Musk said that window could shrink to six months next year. Using that pace, Reidhead argues about $230 billion of the $470 billion could come from operating cash flow and about $60 billion from SpaceX’s roughly $90 billion cash pile, leaving around $180 billion to borrow. Musk confirmed last week that SpaceX had already closed a new $40 billion debt raise to buy GPUs.
The ground buildout is not the end goal. It is what is meant to pay for the move to orbit. Replying on Friday to charts built from Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s SpaceX model, Musk wrote that “Terrestrial compute will be peanuts compared to orbital compute,” adding that orbital compute deployed per month “probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029.”
Maguire’s model shows how steep that path is. It has capex climbing from $88 billion this year to $290 billion in 2027 and $369 billion in 2028, with SpaceX burning $77.8 billion in cash this year and $122.6 billion next year before turning $114.9 billion cash positive in 2028. Musk’s response to the model was, “I think we can do better.”
The orbital half runs through Starmind. SpaceX plans to operate up to 1 million AI satellites flying in clusters of about 10, linked by roughly 10 terabits of bandwidth, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027 out of its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, according to SpaceX’s space safety page. Musk has said each Starmind spacecraft will carry more than 250 kW of solar power.
Getting there depends on launch volume. Maguire’s model assumes 250 Starship flights in 2028, up from two this year and 38 next year. The nearer test is financial: SpaceX guided to $33 billion to $37 billion in first quarter 2027 revenue, more than double the $14.58 billion it booked in Q3, and Musk reposted that guidance again on Sunday morning.
Elon Musk
SpaceX President to gift Trump Accounts her SpaceX stock
Gwynne Shotwell’s 2 million SpaceX shares are headed to children’s Trump Accounts starting this December.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Friday that more than 2 million SpaceX shares belonging to her and her husband, Robert, will be distributed to children’s Trump Accounts in December, turning a pledge she made over the summer into an actual transfer. “Robert and I are thrilled that our gift of over 2 million shares of SpaceX stock will be distributed to children’s Trump accounts in December!” Shotwell wrote on X, adding that the shares are “transferring to escrow as we speak.”
The first round goes to children aged 11 to 17 who live in ZIP codes where the median family income is $57,000 or less, along with kids in ZIP codes with too few residents for the Census to report that figure. Shotwell said those families should receive a notice by Monday, Reuters reported.
A second gift is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks. That round will cover eligible children in military families serving overseas, children in foster care, and more kids in Texas counties near the Shotwells’ home where median family income is $90,000 or less. Elon Musk replied to the announcement with “Cool” and a heart emoji.
Shotwell first announced the donation on July 6, less than a month after SpaceX priced its record IPO at $135 per share on the Nasdaq. IPO filings showed Shotwell owned about 12.6 million SpaceX shares, Quartz reported at the time, which makes the gift roughly one sixth of her stake. At the roughly $146 per share used to value Musk’s own pledge earlier this month, 2 million shares are worth about $290 million.
How the stock would actually reach the accounts had been an open question since July. Treasury guidance acknowledged that stock donations could flow into Trump Accounts, but it did not explain the mechanics for a program whose contributions default into an S&P 500 index fund. Shotwell thanked the Treasury, the IRS, the Dell Foundation, Greater Horizons, Invest America and the law firms Morgan Lewis and Gibson Dunn for “working over the past few months to make this happen.”
The transfer also works as a dry run for a far larger gift. On October 19, Musk said he would give one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America next year and called it “the first of many.” With roughly 72 million children in the country, that pledge is worth about $10.5 billion. President Donald Trump thanked Musk the same day and said the shares would go through Trump Accounts, though neither SpaceX nor the Treasury has published how or when that distribution will happen.
Shotwell’s recipients also fill a gap in the program itself. Trump Accounts launched on July 4, and the $1,000 Treasury deposit only goes to babies born between 2025 and 2028. Teenagers aged 11 to 17 receive no government seed money, so for many of the families getting a notice on Monday, SpaceX stock will be the first asset in the account. The accounts convert into retirement accounts when the child turns 18.
Investor's Corner
Tesla has a Cybercab problem nobody saw coming
Tesla’s Cybercab line now builds robotaxis faster than Tesla can deploy them, Lars Moravy says.
Tesla’s Cybercab line in Texas can now build the two seat robotaxi faster than the company can put it into service, according to Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering. “We don’t run every day because the line can run so fast. It’s currently outpacing our deployments,” Moravy said in a new Cybercab deep dive from Munro Live. “So, it’s a bit of a race right now. Who’s going to go faster? Right now the manufacturing line’s ahead.”
Tesla’s official Robotaxi account shared a Cybercab analysis video on X on Monday, calling it a “Cybercab engineering deep dive.” Moravy’s comments go further than what he told analysts on the Q3 earnings call last week, when he said the Cybercab line’s listed capacity of more than 125,000 units a year undersells what it can actually run.
The tour shows where that speed comes from. Tesla’s unboxed process splits the Cybercab into front, rear, side and center modules that are built and tested on their own before they meet on a short final line. That final line has just 25 fully automated stations, which Tesla’s team estimated is a fifth to a tenth of what a Model Y needs. The full line is about 78% automated, the framing line is already at 100%, and the layout uses roughly 50% less floor space per vehicle. The stated goal is “100% automation in 10 second cycle time,” or one finished Cybercab every 10 seconds.
Tesla also deleted the paint shop. Only the side modules are coated, and the exterior panels get their color inside the molding machine. Engineers said the car is designed to run at least 500,000 miles, which matters for a vehicle that will spend most of its day carrying riders.
The battery got the same treatment. The Cybercab uses an 88S6P pack of 4680 cells in a steel enclosure, a first for Tesla, with each module potted separately so a single failed module can be swapped instead of the whole pack. Wireless battery management boards replace a wiring harness, and new contactors are fast enough to drop the pyro fuse entirely. Tesla’s battery director graded the pack an A minus, compared with a D for the Model Y structural pack and a B minus for Cybertruck. Up front, the drive unit runs an 11:1 gear ratio versus roughly 9:1 on most Teslas, since the Cybercab does not need a high top speed.
Cybercab engineering deep dive — Robotaxi (@robotaxi) October 26, 2026
The deployment side is now the bottleneck Moravy described. Tesla had more than 50 Cybercabs working the Formula 1 weekend in Austin, and Texas records show 463 Cybercabs registered. Tesla said on its earnings call that Cybercab service will launch in Dallas next month, and Moravy said the company is aiming to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026. Every unit built so far has gone into Tesla’s own fleet since the line moved into volume production in April.
Munro Live also asked when it could get a Cybercab to tear down. Tesla’s answer: “Not yet.”