Tesla stock was up again in early trading on Tuesday. It's rallied for a few days, just like SpaceX stock. But is SpaceX dragging Tesla shares higher, or is the reverse true?
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker were at $382.10, up 0.9% in premarket trading, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
Including premarket gains, Tesla stock is up about 8% over the past three days. SpaceX stock was up as well, going for three consecutive gains. Shares were up an impressive 17%, including early trading on Tuesday.
Tesla and SpaceX trade together sometimes. The reason is obvious -- even if it is unlikely or difficult to predict. Wall Street and investors expect the pair to merge someday.
There are reasons for that hope. Both companies are investing heavily in AI and working together on several projects, including a semiconductor production facility in Texas. The biggest reason, of course, is Elon Musk. He controls both companies.
Musk provided an impromptu update about the chip fab over the weekend, confirming that SpaceX and Tesla are exploring ways to work with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. That might have sent shares of SpaceX and Tesla higher on Monday. Tesla's strong third-quarter delivery report on Friday might have been the primary reason both shares gained at the end of last week.
Whatever the reasons, and whichever company is most responsible, both stocks are rallying, and the gains continued early on Tuesday.
Recent gains have made Musk a trillionaire again, according to Forbes. There are few ways to calculate Musk's wealth. Loans can be deducted (but loans generate cash), stakes in smaller companies such as The Boring Company can be excluded, liquidity discounts can be applied, and restricted stock and performance incentives can be considered.
Whatever the methodology, the headline value of Musk's 42% stake in SpaceX is near $1 trillion at current levels, and he remains really, really rich.
Next up for Tesla specifically is earnings due on Oct. 21. Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of 44 cents, according to FactSet, down from 50 cents a year ago.
More than earnings, investors will want an update about Telsa's AI efforts, including its robo-taxi business. Musk gave an update about that on X over the weekend, too. Operations in Austin, Texas, now go until 11 p.m.
"The main thing we're trying to solve is making sure that we don't run over pets when they're hard to see at night," tweeted Musk. "Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark."
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