TSLA
Wall Street’s mood: still bullish, just with a little side-eye
Tesla just reminded everyone that being the cool kid in EVs doesn’t make the spreadsheet math any easier. After second-quarter results came in with an EPS miss and higher spending plans, analysts rushed in with their pens out — not to quit, but to shave price targets.
Cantor Fitzgerald kept its Overweight rating and nudged its target down from $510 to $485. Morgan Stanley stayed Equal-Weight and cut its target from $417 to $400. Needham held the line with a Hold. Translation: nobody’s throwing tomatoes, but the margin for error is getting smaller.
The Tesla story is now two stories
On one side, you’ve got the classic Tesla pitch: FSD adoption, more approvals in Europe, Supervised FSD in China, robotaxi progress, and Cybercab production getting started. That’s the “future is arriving any minute now” part of the narrative.
On the other side, there’s the part investors can actually feel in their portfolios: capex is rising, margins are under pressure, and the company is asking shareholders to fund a more capital-intensive growth plan. That’s less sci-fi, more “please keep your seatbelt on.”
Why you should care
The market is basically asking one question: can Tesla turn all that autonomy hype into real earnings power before the spending train gets too heavy? If yes, the bulls get their victory lap. If not, the stock may keep behaving like a very expensive promise.
Rivian got a cameo too, since Needham flagged the upcoming R2 as Tesla Model Y competition. But the headline here is Tesla’s own balancing act — more ambition, more spending, and a lot more patience required.
Big picture: Tesla still has the kind of growth story that makes Wall Street lean in, but now it has to prove the future can pay for itself.