TSLA Stock Rises Overnight: Musk Bets Tesla’s Value On Optimus, Cybercab — Analyst Sees Flying ‘Halo Car’ Luring Buyers

Morningstar sees the Roadster attracting buyers to Tesla’s broader lineup, despite forecasting fewer than 2,000 annual deliveries.

• Musk defended building the Roadster because it is “super cool,” despite placing his bigger bets in Optimus and Cybercab.
• Chris Camillo praised Musk’s willingness to risk public failure, saying the Roadster’s significance extends beyond profits.
• Musk floated 400 mph speeds, F1-beating track times and autonomous airborne tricks for the Roadster.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) rose 1% overnight late Sunday as CEO Elon Musk put the Optimus humanoid robot and Cybercab robotaxi at the center of the company’s future value, while a Morningstar analyst said that its “flying” Roadster could draw buyers to the wider Tesla lineup.

TSLA stock fell 7% last week, logging its worst week in nearly three months. 

Musk’s Tesla Bet Rests On Optimus And Cybercab

Musk’s remarks came after the recent unveiling of the long-awaited sports car, which briefly flew and flipped using cold-gas thrusters during autonomous demos, drawing praise for Tesla’s engineering and also questions about the vehicle’s practicality.

“Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value,” Musk said on X. He said superintelligence, robots, solar power and transporting mass into space were the businesses capable of reaching extraordinary economic scale, with progress in the first two enabling the others. “But Roadster is super cool, so we’re doing it anyway,” he added.

Morningstar Sees Roadster Lifting Tesla Sales 

Meanwhile, Morningstar sees the Roadster as a “halo car” that showcases Tesla’s best engineering and could stimulate demand across its vehicle lineup. 

“A high-end sports car that is the fastest car in the world and that can temporarily fly does a great job highlighting Tesla as a unique luxury car company, which should draw consumers to Tesla vehicles and could support increased deliveries once the car enters production in 2028,” Morningstar said. The firm said Tesla’s claimed 0-to-60 mph time of 0.81 seconds, if recorded at a racetrack, would be less than half the current 1.66-second record. 

Morningstar forecasts fewer than 2,000 annual Roadster deliveries after production ramps up, making it Tesla’s lowest-volume vehicle. 

Chris Camillo Cheers Musk’s Big Gamble

Chris Camillo, an investor and author of Laughing at Wall Street, saw a bigger payoff in Musk’s willingness to risk a public failure.  “Almost no CEO would willingly expose their company to that kind of public humiliation for a product with so little financial upside. Elon did,” Camillo said on X.

He said that Musk was helping revive America’s appetite for pursuing seemingly impossible ideas, with an influence on future founders that could dwarf anything Tesla sells. “Whether the Roadster ever makes Tesla a dollar or impacts $TSLA stock price is almost beside the point,” he said.

“We need more people willing to risk failure in pursuit of things the rest of us think are impossible. Because when they succeed we all win.” Camillo, who said he had been both bullish and critical of Tesla, also questioned the impulse to turn the demonstration into an argument over whether it qualified as a flying car. “Can we just acknowledge how insanely cool that moment was?” he added.

Musk Teases F1 Records And ‘Spider-Man’ Tricks

Musk’s posts over the weekend raised expectations beyond the demo last week. “I think we can reach a peak speed of >0.5 Mach or ~400 mph,” he said, exceeding the top speed of 230 mph.

He also claimed that the Roadster has an advantage over Formula 1 cars. “Even without rocket thrusters, Roadster will crush the best Formula 1 track times, because we are using suction and active control surfaces, both of which are banned by F1,” Musk said.

“The Roadster could fly, rotate and stick to the underside of an overpass like Spider-Man,” he said in another post. Musk also said owners would be able to request the demo tricks autonomously and promised a looping test track at Tesla’s Texas headquarters “crazier even than Hot Wheels.”

Musk Taunts ‘AI Godfather’ Over Roadster Criticism

Musk fired back at Yann LeCun, the Turing Award-winning researcher often called an “AI godfather,” after he dismissed Tesla’s flying Roadster demo as impractical.

“I fart in your general direction,” Musk replied. LeCun questioned the compressed-air system’s efficiency, estimating that even if air accounted for half the car’s mass, it would provide less than 10 seconds of useful thrust.

“Probably more like 5 seconds, actually,” he said, arguing that the vehicle would need to be a lightweight shell containing large air tanks. “Cute demo, but totally impractical. But of course, you knew that,” LeCun added.

Roadster Reservations Hit $250,000 With No Delivery Guarantee 

Tesla lists two-seat Performance and Thrust versions, requiring reservation payments of $50,000 and $250,000, respectively, plus an invitation-only, single-seat Rocket variant with perimeter thrusters. Reservations secure a place in line, with no delivery guarantee.

The vehicle is not approved for public road use, and availability depends on regional laws. Musk acknowledged safety limitations and uncertainty over its legality everywhere.

Tesla reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Morningstar expects investors to focus on robotaxi and humanoid-robot updates, alongside free cash flow, which it forecasts will remain negative for a second straight quarter.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About TSLA?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for TSLA slipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ levels a day ago amid ‘high’ message volume.

One user said, “$TSLA all of you bearish gooners don't understand that $TSLA will fly just like the roadster on Monday!!”

View this Stocktwits post

Another user said, “$TSLA legally, if a buyout is going to happen, it's likely to happen during their next ER [earnings report], which is scheduled to happen on October 21.  Are you ready to launch? $500.”

View this Stocktwits post

So far this year, Tesla's stock has lagged its "Magnificent Seven" peers, making it the group's worst performer, down about 21%. 

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