Tesla introduced updates for the Model S and Model X vehicles late Thursday, raising the prices on the luxury vehicle options by $5,000. CEO Elon Musk earlier in the week announced a tentative date for the robotaxi service launch in Austin, Texas, later this month. Tesla stock fell slightly early before gaining ground Friday as the stock market reacted to Israel's Iran attack.
The EV giant released refreshed Model S and Model X vehicles late Thursday. The Model X Long Range model is now $89,990 and the Model X Plaid version is $104,990. Meanwhile, the Model S Long Range is $84,990 and the Model S Plaid is $99,990. The updates to the vehicles include front bumper cameras, two new exterior color options, active noise cancellation technology and more space for a third row for passengers in the Model X.
There's been little about the updates to Tesla's more luxury vehicle offerings, with bulls and bears focused on the upcoming robotaxi launch.
Musk posted to X Tuesday night that Tesla will officially begin its autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service "tentatively" on June 22. The Tesla CEO also gave his reasons why the EV giant will not be rolling out the service this week.
"We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift," Musk wrote Tuesday. "First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28."
Bloomberg had previously reported that the Tesla robotaxi service would begin on June 12. But until Tuesday neither Tesla nor Musk had officially set a date.
Tesla is a "known" autonomous vehicle, or AV, operator in Austin as of June 13, according to Austin's Transportation and Public Works website. The EV giant is listed as being in the "testing" phase of autonomous driving operation in the city. For comparison, Waymo is officially listed in the "deployment" phase.
Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, announced Friday it will "streamline" the current exemption process for automakers that wish to deploy self-driving autonomous vehicles that do not have a steering wheel or brake pedals, according to a letter posted on the regulator's website.
Tesla Stock Performance
TSLA advanced nearly 2% to 325.31 during Friday's stock market action. Tesla stock declined 2.2% to 319.11 on Thursday, dipping below the 21-day line. Shares ended Friday up more than 10% on the week, reclaiming the 200-day moving average and 50-day line.
Last week, Tesla stock dived 14.7% to 295.58, plunging Thursday to round-trip an aggressive entry and undercut key moving averages — including its 21-day exponential moving average, the 200-day moving average and 50-day line — as Musk and Trump traded insults and threats online.
Tesla Bounces After Musk-Trump Blowup, But Maybe There Was More To The Sell-Off
Q2 Delivery Expectations Come Down?
Guggenheim analysts on Friday wrote that while Tesla stock continues to be driven by robotaxi and political narratives in the near-term, the company's fundamentals "continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate."
The analysts added that the "soft" Q2 delivery trends confirm demand for the refreshed Model Y has not helped Tesla's sales momentum. The firm also believes there will be "sizable" negative revisions in the coming weeks to Q2 delivery estimates. Guggenheim expects Q2 Tesla global deliveries to come at 360,000.
The current analyst consensus has Tesla vehicle deliveries of 399,000, which is 10% below a year ago but about 18% above the Q1 total, according to FactSet.
Tesla Analysts Split On Robotaxi Impact
Despite surging on robotaxi bets following the April 22 Q1 conference call, TSLA stock is now down about 19% for the year. The stock is also down 33% from its all-time high of 488.54.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull, wrote Wednesday that the robotaxi service launch is a "major endeavor for Musk and Tesla and we believe over the coming year we will see Robotaxi deployed in 20 to 25 cities in the U.S."
Baird analysts on Monday downgraded TSLA to a neutral rating, from outperform, with an unchanged 320 price target. The analysts wrote that Tesla stock has performed well since Q1 earnings, advancing more than 20%, primarily due to anticipation for the launch of the limited robotaxi service.
However, the firm said Musk's robotaxi ramp up rate predictions "are a bit too optimistic" and that this excitement has been priced into Tesla stock.
Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 5.29%. The ATR metric, available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool, gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily stock market action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are now in a power trend. Investors can buy stocks with ATRs of up to 8%, though they should be wary of being too concentrated in high-octane names.
Tesla stock has a 69 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The stock also has a 91 Relative Strength Rating and a 59 EPS Rating.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Is Tesla Stock A Buy Or A Sell?
Get Full Access To IBD Stock Lists And Ratings
The Lithium Price Cycle Has Bottomed. What To Expect Next For These Stocks.
Defense Stocks, Some In Buy Zones, Rally On Middle East Turmoil
Oil Stocks Jump As Crude Spikes On Israel's Iran Attack
Israel-Iran Attacks Hit Market; The Next AI Winners After Nvidia, Broadcom?
