Tesla became the world’s most valuable automaker in terms of market cap, following news of  the electric carmaker being ready to bring the Tesla Semi to volume production.  Tesla stock price edged past  $1,000 per share today.“Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most of the other work probably occurring in other states.” (as reported by CNBC).Musk did not mention a timeline for production. In November 2017, the company unveiled its Semi commercial truck, initially set to be delivered in 2019.

Tesla  got a healthy price-target hike from Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. Ives cited  the electric carmaker’s “turning the corner” in demand and production recovery,  following the covid-19 crisis. Ives boosted his one-year price target on Tesla’s shares to $800, around a third higher than his prior target. Amidst the challenges posed by the global pandemic, the company took a “major step forward” around addressing demand and production concerns with the Fremont artery now up and running following the resolution of Musk vs. Alameda County stand-off – according to Ives. The analyst mentioned that while 2Q delivery numbers remain uncertain due to logistical issues in the pandemic, and with lockdown restrictions beginning to ease across the U.S. and Europe, the underlying demand for Model 3 in China seems strong, with a “solid” May and June likely and clear momentum heading into 2H. TSLA enters an Uptrend as Momentum Indicator exceeded the 0 level on May 26

General Motors reported first quarter earnings that beat expectations.  The auto behemoth’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending in March came in at 62 cents per share, more than double the Street consensus estimate of 30 cents per share.

 Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy boosted his price target for Tesla shares to $580 from $415, citing  that Tesla has “more edge” in terms of electric vehicles’ potential to replace conventional ones. Levy suggested that the Covid-19 crisis makes it even more challenging for traditional vehicle makers to balance the long-term shift to electric vehicles. According to Levy, declining demand and possible supply shortfalls were short-term risks for Tesla. Nevertheless, the analyst feels that Tesla leads its rivals in battery development,  has displayed increase in liquidity and improvements in execution.

Tesla  lowered the starting price for its Model 3 sedans by 16% to 299,050 yuan ($42,919) after government rebates, amid coronavirus pandemic. The subsidy amounts to 24,750 yuan ($3,552) per vehicle. The price in China for imported Model 3s is 439,900 yuan ($63,133) before subsidies. Telsa’s car registrations in China have declined for two straight months, according to Bloomberg. The company started operating at a factory in Shanghai in January, and the facility is the electric carmaker’s  only plant outside the U.S.

 Everyone else in the company will receive a salary cut of 10%, according to an internal email (as reported by TheStreet). The pay reductions are expected to remain through to the end of June.(as reported by TheStreet). Tesla is running "minimum critical operations" at present, and expects to go back to full operations at U.S. plants in early May  unless there are any significant changes, as indicated in the email.

General Motors  said salaried staff will have 20% of their pay deferred, amid coronavirus crisis. According to an internal memo described to Bloomberg, the auto behemoth said that beginning next week through the fourth quarter or first quarter of 2021, GM's senior management team will take pay cuts of as much as 10% and defer 20% of their cash compensation.GM's board will experience total compensation cut by 20%. General Motors would be freezing work on new-vehicle programs, Bloomberg reported.   

The post includes the website where customers can order the new vehicle. Tesla’s announcement comes amid Coronavirus outbreak, and in line with the timing that analysts had expected.The COVID-19 crisis, however, could potentially pose risks to the company’s Q1 results in China. In January, Tesla had announced that production of the Model Y had started with plans to begin the first deliveries of the electric compact crossover by the end of the first quarter.

Automobile giants like General Motors  and Ford  got a lowered outlook from a Morgan Stanley analyst due to coronavirus impact. Analyst Adam Jonas reduced his 2020 U.S.According to Jonas,  weakening consumer sentiment could lead to  consumers potentially holding off  purchases of expensive consumer discretionary items such new car that’s sells for around  $35,000. Jonas further suggested that if lending conditions tighten on recession risks, this could further impact  the SAAR. Even used car prices could face pricing pressure, according to Jonas. Jonas slashed his price target for General Motors to $42 from $46 a share, while cutting his Ford target to $10 from $11.

 Tesla is growing at a compound annual rate of 23%. According to JMP, Tesla is valued at around 20 times forecasted earnings (based on projections for 2021), compared to around 18.2 times for the S&P 500.The analysts also indicated that Tesla   could produce nearly 2 million vehicles a year by 2025.  

The base case represents nearly 38% decline from the stock’s current price. The latest bull case reflects 4 million units of auto volume by 2030 with a 12% operating margin.According to Jonas, Tesla  has the opportunity to supply powertrains, including batteries and electric motors, to other vehicle manufacturers. The base case forecast includes  2.2 million units and a 10% operating margin margin by 2030, However, Jonas warned that investors should expect a “very challenging” first quarter for Tesla.

It isn’t even two weeks that Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it "didn't make sense" to raise money, and now the company has plans to raise $2 billion in new common stock. Out of the new offering, Musk will purchase as much as $10 million of stock, while Tesla board member Larry Ellison will buy up to $1 million. Tesla will offer 2.65 million Tesla shares, and expects the sale to generate gross proceeds of $2.3 billion before discounts and expenses. The company indicated that proceeds from the equity issuance would be used for bolstering its balance sheet as well as for 'general corporate purposes". 

Tesla  beat earnings estimates, and issued strong 2020 guidance on deliveries. The electric carmaker’s adjusted earnings for the quarter ended December came in at $2.14, exceeding the Street estimates of $1.77.The figure is also + 7% higher from the same quarter a year ago. Revenue surged +17% year-over-year to  $7.384 billion, beating analyst's estimates of $6.99 billion. Tesla projects full-year 2020 deliveries of 500,000, while expecting that it can "comfortably exceed" that estimate.

Tesla is reportedly producing its Model 3 electric vehicles at a rate of 28 per hour at its new Shanghai plant, or more than 1,000 per week given 10 hours on shift each day, according to a report from the Global Times. Tesla began work on the $2 billion China plant just under a year ago.The China-made Model 3s are selling for around 355,800 yuan (or $50,000) before subsidies. Tesla aims to make 3,000 vehicles per week at Shanghai “in the near future,” Tesla executives told the Global Times. According to the report, Tesla sources 30% of the China-made Model 3 parts in China itself.

Analysts at Cowen have a bearish outlook on Tesla, citing  falling demand in 2020. Cowen has an underperform rating and $210 price target on the electric carmaker's stock, representing a potential 51% downside from the stock’s Friday closing price above $420 a share. Excluding the Netherlands and China, Cowen expects Model 3 deliveries to be down.The expected slowing down reflects a  demand saturation that Cowen perceives across most mature markets as they shift from “pent-up demand to steady flow demand.” According to Cowen, Tesla’s pricing and mix issues will affect the company’s near-term margins.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones is cautious about Tesla’s long-term valuation. In a note on Monday, Jones hinted that Tesla's current valuation of roughly $76 billion may not be sustainable, as he thinks that the company would over time be viewed more as a traditional auto manufacturer (versus a technology company). Jonas maintains a $250 price target on Tesla shares. “We are prepared for a potential surge in sentiment through 1H20 but question the sustainability”, Jones mentioned in the note. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had to step down from his chairman position at the company after posting a tweet in August last year that he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420.Funding secured".   Interestingly,  Tesla stock rose to touch $420 per share on Tuesday, and is around $425 as of this writing. On Monday, a Reuters report suggested that Tesla secured a $1.4 billion loan from a group of banks in China that it will use to expand production at its Shanghai factory.&

Electric vehicle startup Rivian got a $1.3 billion funding round led by T. Rowe Price and includes Amazon.com, Ford and BlackRock as additional investors. The latest funding round is the fourth major investor cash received by Rivian in 2019.The company has apparently raised more than $3 billion since 2018. Rivian  expects to start delivering its first two vehicles, the R1T, an electric pickup truck, and R1S, an SUV, in late 2020.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently indicated in a tweet that the number of orders for its recently-launched  Cybertruck electric pick-up truck had touched 250,000, up from 200,000 just a few days prior. During the launch event on November 21, the vehicle’s supposedly shatterproof glass unfortunately met with a  shattering when a heavy metal ball was thrown at it.According to Tesla, the accident happened because the window was weakened first by a test in which a sledgehammer was used against it. Tesla’s Cybertruck will be sold in three varieties, priced at $39,900, $49,900, and $69,900 for the base model of each type.

 On Thursday, Fiat Chrysler and  Peugeot maker PSA Group confirmed their intention to merge. The proposed merger would create the world’s fourth-largest automaker with a roughly $50 billion valuation, according to a CNBC report.The combined company is expected to generate 8.7 million vehicle sales, $190 billion in turnover, and to have a combined 400,000 employees. If the deal comes through,  Fiat and PSA would merge on a 50-50 basis. Executives have briefed regulators in the U.S. and France, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The WSJ report indicated that Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares is expected to lead the merged automaker as its CEO, while Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann would continue his role in the combined company. The news comes five months after Fiat Chrysler ended merger discussions with PSA’s French rival, Renault.

Tesla might be currently “a few thousand” cars short of its delivery goals. According to a report by Electrek, the electric car maker emailed to its employees last week that it has a chance at delivering a record 100,000 cars this quarter. But citing sources familiar with the matter, Electrek’s latest report suggests that  Tesla management communicated to employees last night that they were “a few thousands” short of the goal with a day left in the quarter.Reaching their target could potentially be extremely challenging, as hinted by the report. Sources told Electrek that Tesla has about 3,000 vehicles in inventory throughout North America, but not all of them are at the delivery centers ready to be matched with a customer ready to take delivery.