Quick Read
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Tesla beat Q1 EPS estimates at $0.41, expanded automotive gross margin to 21%, and grew TSLA FSD subscriptions 51% to 1.28 million.
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SPCX dropped 19% in its first week post-IPO, carries negative forward EPS, and models project 27% upside at only 50% confidence.
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Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) sit on opposite sides of the same Elon Musk story. SpaceX debuted on June 12 and carries a $2.13 trillion market cap. Tesla closed Q1 FY2026 with $22.39B in revenue. The question is which grows faster from here.
Rockets Surge. Cars Carry the Quarter.
Tesla’s earnings on April 22, 2026 showed the auto business clawing back margin. Automotive gross margin expanded to 21.1% from 16.2%, Non-GAAP EPS landed at $0.41 against a $0.3592 estimate, and Services & Other revenue jumped 42% YoY to $3.75B. Full Self-Driving subscriptions reached 1.28 million, up 51%. A real software flywheel is forming under the car business.
Energy is the soft spot. Generation and storage revenue fell 12% YoY, and operating expenses climbed 37% on AI R&D and CEO stock-based comp. Cash position is fortress-like at $44.74B.
SpaceX is the louder story. After IPOing at roughly $1.8T, shares have dropped 19.43% in one week to $154.54. Forward EPS sits at negative $0.69. Starlink revenue and launch cadence are the bull case. The bear case is the valuation itself.
Cash Machine vs. Capital Story
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Lens |
Company A |
Company B |
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Core bet |
Autos, FSD, Optimus, energy |
Starlink, launch, defense |
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Profit profile |
GAAP operating income $941M |
Negative forward EPS |
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Key vulnerability |
Battery pack capacity ceiling |
Post-IPO lock-up overhang |
|
Sentiment |
Composite 60.97, bullish |
Composite 58.85, neutral |
The two companies are now financially intertwined. Tesla disclosed a $2B equity stake in SpaceX and a shared semiconductor fab project at the Gigafactory Texas campus. Owning one is partial exposure to the other.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
The Next 12 Months Will Be Decided by Cash Flow and Lock-Ups
For Tesla, catalysts are concrete: Cybercab volume production, Tesla Semi ramp, Megapack 3, and Robotaxi expansion into Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas. Watch whether FSD subscription growth and energy storage absorb the AI spending bulge.
For SpaceX, the watch list differs. Polymarket traders price a 97.9% probability SpaceX holds the higher valuation on June 30. The harder question is what happens after lock-ups expire. Reddit narrative inverted from “free money” to “institutional rejection” in roughly ten days.
