Tesla Stock Tries to Break 5-Week Losing Run. SpaceX IPO, Rosy Sales Estimates May Not Be Enough

Dow Jones03-27 20:49

Tesla stock is trying to stop an ignominious streak on Friday. It will take a positive reaction to the first-quarter sales estimates and SpaceX IPO news.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker were up 0.6% at $374.20 in after-hours trading, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were rising 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

Tesla stock needs to finish above $ 367.96 to snap a five-week losing streak. Shares closed $4.15 above that level on Thursday. It's the longest losing streak since January 2025, when shares fell for nine consecutive weeks.

The streak essentially started with better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Since then, investors seem to be waiting for a catalyst -- such as the expansion of Tesla's robo-taxi business or the unveiling of the third generation of Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus, both of which were talked about on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call.

Fighting in Iran hasn't helped. Tesla's stock was down about 8% since hostilities began on Feb. 28, through Thursday trading.

For Friday, investors have to digest Wall Street's first-quarter delivery estimates compiled by Tesla. It reports numbers on April 2, and analysts project about 366,000 cars sold. That would be a 9% year-over-year rise -- impressive considering U.S. car buyers lost the $7,500 federal EV purchase tax credit in September and Chinese EV sales have started the year off slowly.

Analyst estimates imply growth, but they might not be enough to move shares. Another factor on Friday could be the SpaceX IPO. Reuters reported Thursday that Elon Musk was considering allocating 30% of SpaceX's IPO to retail investors. That's three or more times a typical retail allocation. Musk is CEO of Tesla and leads SpaceX.

SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.

Tesla stock enjoys very strong retail support. Retail investors hold about 40% of the shares available for trading, about twice the ratio for other large tech companies, according to Bloomberg. Musk appears to want the same setup for SpaceX.

There isn't a direct correlation between SpaceX news and Tesla stock yet, but the two companies are getting closer. In 2025, Tesla invested $2 billion into xAI -- another Musk company -- which SpaceX acquired earlier in 2026. And the two companies will build a "Terafab" semiconductor manufacturing facility to produce AI computing hardware.

In a small way, those things link the fortunes of Musk's companies. Musk, of course, is the biggest factor. He runs both companies, and investors trust him to generate trillions in stock market value.

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Comments

a4xrbj1
03-27 21:10
a4xrbj1
Dow Jones is well know to be stock promoting WS publication. Doing its best again to only highlight positives and not talk much about all the broken promises by Elon Musk, like covering 50% of the US with Robotaxis, thousands of Semi's on the road, more than 2 million cars sold and obviously full autonomous vehicles that their owner can instantly add to a network of "Robotaxis" so that their car increases in value. We can't expect that sort of journalism from a stock promoter.