Tesla stock is trading lower again today as investors juggle a messy mix of headlines: a potential $26 billion Musk pay-package hit, a bruising November selloff, and fresh optimism around Full Self‑Driving (FSD) V14.2, robotaxis and Tesla’s AI chip ambitions.
Snapshot: Tesla Stock Price Today
As of mid-session on Friday, November 21, 2025, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is trading around $388 per share, down roughly 1–2% from Thursday’s close near $395, after an early bounce above $400 faded. [1]
- Current price: about $388
- Thursday close (Nov 20):$395.23, down 2.17% on the day [2]
- 52‑week range: roughly $214 to $489 [3]
- Market cap: around $1.3 trillion [4]
Multiple data providers put Tesla’s trailing P/E ratio well above 250, making it one of the most expensive large‑cap stocks in the S&P 500 by earnings multiples. [5]
Key takeaway: Tesla is still priced like a high‑growth AI and robotics platform, not a conventional carmaker — which makes today’s news flow especially important.
Key Takeaways for November 21, 2025
- TSLA is extending a rough November: Shares are down around 13% for the month heading into today, with the pain falling heavily on retail dip‑buyers. [6]
- A Musk pay-case overhang looms: A Delaware Supreme Court decision on Elon Musk’s revised compensation package could force Tesla to book a $26 billion accounting charge, larger than most of its quarterly profits over the last six years. [7]
- Wall Street is split: Some analysts warn of downside from rich valuation and China competition, while Stifel and Piper Sandler highlight FSD and robotaxis, with price targets around $500–$508 per share. [8]
- Tech & EV stocks remain under pressure: A broader risk‑off shift after Nvidia’s latest earnings and renewed worries about an “AI bubble” have weighed on Tesla and other EV names. [9]
- Execution story is still alive: Tesla is rolling out FSD V14.2, expanding a rental program across U.S. cities, pushing Model Y Performance into showrooms, and securing statewide robotaxi approval in Arizona. [10]
1. Why Tesla Stock Is Having a Brutal November
Retail investors caught on the wrong side of the trade
Several outlets today highlight how retail traders have been buying Tesla’s dips all month, only to see the stock sink about 13% in November as of Thursday’s close. [11]
- Articles from CoinCentral, Parameter and TipRanks describe a pattern where small investors added aggressively as TSLA rallied on AI and robotaxi optimism earlier in the quarter.
- The sharp reversal over the past week has left many of those late buyers sitting on quick losses.
This retail-heavy ownership amplifies Tesla’s swings: when sentiment turns, there isn’t always enough institutional buying to absorb the rush to the exits.
The $26 billion Musk pay-package overhang
A major story today centers on Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation package and its replacement structure:
- The Delaware Supreme Court is reviewing whether Tesla’s revised pay deal should trigger an estimated $26 billion accounting charge. [12]
- Analysis from Parameter notes that this one‑time expense would exceed Tesla’s quarterly profit in 21 of the past 25 quarters, underscoring how material it would be to reported earnings. [13]
Even though the charge would be non‑cash, it could:
- Depress near‑term EPS,
- Complicate valuation metrics, and
- Reinforce the narrative that Tesla’s stock is expensive relative to fundamentals.
Macro backdrop: AI angst and risk‑off trading
Tesla’s slide isn’t happening in a vacuum:
- Tech and EV stocks sold off sharply Thursday as investors questioned whether AI valuations — led by Nvidia — have run too far, too fast. [14]
- Seeking Alpha notes that EV names broadly traded lower today, citing pricing pressure, mixed demand signals and regulatory changes as additional headwinds. [15]
For a stock with a beta above 2, Tesla tends to magnify those macro moves both on the way up and on the way down. [16]
2. Fundamentals and Valuation: Tesla Remains a High‑Expectations Story
Earnings and margins
Recent MarketBeat summaries of Tesla’s Q3 2025 earnings show: [17]
- Revenue: ~$28.1 billion (up ~11.6% year‑over‑year)
- EPS: $0.50 vs $0.48 consensus
- Net margin: about 5.5%
- Return on equity: ~6.6%
So Tesla is still profitable and growing, but margins and growth rates are far from the hyper‑growth phase investors once enjoyed.
Valuation vs peers
Today’s analyses hammer home how expensive TSLA remains:
- Trefis calculates a P/E around 251 based on last‑twelve‑month earnings, versus about 22–23 for the S&P 500 median. [18]
- MarketBeat places the multiple even higher, at roughly 263x earnings, with a PEG ratio near 16.8. [19]
- Investor’s Business Daily calls Tesla one of the “seven most expensive stocks” in the S&P 500, even as analysts forecast about 21% profit growth in 2025. [20]
Trefis also warns that:
- Tesla’s China sales dropped ~35.8% year‑over‑year in October 2025, leaving it with just 3.2% market share in a brutally competitive EV market. [21]
This combination — slowing growth in key regions plus a very rich multiple — underpins a growing chorus of pieces like “3 Reasons Tesla Stock Could Tumble,” which flag: competition, FSD legal risk, and supply‑chain pressures as potential downside catalysts. [22]
3. Bullish News: FSD V14.2, Robotaxis and AI Chips
Despite the red on the screen, today’s news flow also contains some clear positives for Tesla’s long‑term story.
FSD V14.2 rolls out, “widespread” release teased
Tesla is beginning to push Full Self‑Driving (Supervised) V14.2 to an initial batch of vehicles, especially AI4‑hardware Model Y cars in California. [23]
According to Teslarati’s review of the release notes, V14.2 introduces:
- A revamped neural‑network vision encoder with higher‑resolution perception,
- Better handling of emergency vehicles, road debris and human gestures,
- More flexible arrival options (parking lot, street, driveway, garage, curbside), and
- Improved behavior in unprotected turns, lane changes and cut‑ins. [24]
A companion Teslarati article reminds readers that Elon Musk previously said “14.2 [is] for widespread use,” hinting this could be the build that enables a broad FSD rollout rather than a limited beta. [25]
Wall Street and high‑profile investors praise FSD
That technical progress is being echoed in today’s commentary:
- Investor Ross Gerber says FSD V14.1.7 on his Cybertruck is a “big step up” from V13 and that he’s “pretty pleased” with the improvements, despite some lingering mapping issues. [26]
- Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter calls FSD V14 a “truly impressive product” and argues it already drives better than “the average American,” reiterating an Overweight rating and a $500 price target for TSLA. [27]
- Stifel recently raised its Tesla price target from $483 to $508, citing progress on robotaxis, stronger FSD capabilities and long‑term potential for the Optimus humanoid robot. [28]
This cluster of bullish takes helps explain why, despite November’s drawdown, many institutional analysts still frame Tesla as a software‑ and AI‑heavy platform rather than a pure automaker.
Robotaxis: Arizona gives Tesla statewide approval
On the robotaxi front, Tesla has just notched an important regulatory win:
- Arizona’s Department of Transportation (AZDOT) has granted Tesla a Transportation Network Company (TNC) permit, allowing it to operate a paid ride‑hailing service across the entire state. [29]
- Not a Tesla App notes this effectively transitions operations in Arizona from “research and development” to “commercial services”, marking Arizona as the third U.S. state to approve Tesla’s robotaxi platform. [30]
- Unlike city‑by‑city approvals in California, Arizona’s permit is statewide, potentially enabling inter‑city autonomous routes once the service scales. [31]
With Tesla’s Robotaxi app now open to all North American users, the company has the legal and technical pieces to begin monetizing robotaxis in select regions — though timelines and safety‑driver requirements remain key unknowns. [32]
AI5 chips and a possible “TeraFab” mega‑foundry
Another theme running through today’s coverage is Tesla’s pivot deeper into AI infrastructure:
- A Not a Tesla App feature explains that Tesla’s in‑house AI5 chip is designed as a massive leap over AI4, with about 10x the compute and 9x the memory capacity, intended to power both FSD/robotaxis and Optimus robots, as well as data‑center workloads. [33]
- The same report notes Tesla is exploring a dedicated “TeraFab” AI chip factory in the U.S., consisting of up to 10 modules that could each produce around 100,000 chips per month, potentially making it one of the largest AI chip plants on the planet dedicated to a single customer. [34]
- To bridge the gap before TeraFab, Tesla is already working with TSMC and Samsung and may bring Intel into the mix to secure additional foundry capacity. [35]
Investors who treat Tesla as an “AI + robotics + energy platform” see these headlines as validation, though they also imply huge capital needs and execution risk that could pressure free cash flow in the coming years.
4. Product and Customer News Supporting the Brand
Not all of today’s Tesla headlines are about stock charts and legal filings. Several items speak to product demand and brand reach:
Model Y Performance hits showrooms
- Tesla Oracle reports that the new Model Y Performance, built on the second‑generation “Juniper” platform, is now appearing in U.S. showrooms ahead of deliveries. [36]
- Key details:
- 0–60 mph in about 3.3 seconds
- 155 mph top speed
- Starting around $57,490 in the U.S.
- Deliveries expected from December 2025 to January 2026, depending on ZIP code. [37]
Getting the car physically in stores lets potential buyers see and feel the refreshed design while they wait for delivery slots — a subtle but important lever for sustaining Tesla’s demand narrative.
Tesla rental program expands across U.S. cities
A Benzinga piece highlights Tesla’s quietly expanding direct rental program: [38]
- Job listings show “Rental Readiness Specialist” roles in cities including Boston, Austin, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Houston and Nashville.
- Reported pricing:
- Model 3 / Model Y: from about $60 per day
- Cybertruck: around $75 per day
- Model S / Model X: about $90 per day
- Rentals reportedly include unlimited miles, free Supercharging and FSD access, plus a $250 discount on a purchase within seven days of renting.
The program — which started as a pilot in San Diego — effectively turns Tesla into both manufacturer and short‑term rental operator, giving more drivers a low‑friction way to experience FSD and potentially convert into buyers. [39]
Charging network and new markets
- Not a Tesla App lists the Q3 2025 Supercharger voting winners, with new sites planned across North America, Europe and Asia‑Pacific, and notes features like dynamic pricing at 550+ U.S. sites, 500kW V4 charging for Cybertruck, and fleet card access in Europe. [40]
- Tesla’s official events page announces “Now Arriving in Bogota”, offering demo drives in Colombia from November 21 to December 31 at Centro Comercial Andino in Bogotá. [41]
These moves reinforce Tesla’s ecosystem edge — cars, charging, software and new geographies — even as the stock price wobbles.
5. Institutional Flows and Analyst Positioning
MarketBeat published several 13F‑based updates today:
- Legal & General Group Plc increased its Tesla stake by 5.9% in Q2 to over 20.2 million shares, worth about $6.4 billion, making Tesla its 8th‑largest position. [42]
- Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings by 7.5% to roughly 8.76 million shares, about 0.27% of Tesla’s outstanding stock. [43]
- Seeds Investor LLC boosted its stake by 51.7%, though from a much smaller base, to about 2,596 shares. [44]
Analyst sentiment, aggregated by MarketBeat, still nets out to an average “Hold” rating, with about 21 Buys, 12 Holds and 10 Sells, and a consensus price target near $394 — effectively around where the stock is currently trading. [45]
That split mirrors the broader market debate:
- Bulls see Tesla as a scarce platform asset with optionality in FSD, robotaxis, Optimus and AI infrastructure.
- Bears see an automaker facing competition, regulatory risk and heavy capital needs, trading at a valuation that leaves little room for disappointment.
6. Technical Picture and Options Market
From a trading perspective, today’s commentary is cautious:
- FXEmpire notes that Tesla is attempting a short‑term bounce after Thursday’s “anything‑that‑can‑be‑sold” tech rout, but warns that the 50‑day EMA overhead remains stiff resistance, and that real strength would require a broader revival in risk appetite — not just a Tesla‑specific bounce. [46]
- On the downside, the article highlights around $365 as a potential support zone to watch if selling resumes. [47]
In the options market, data from Quantcha shows:
- Implied volatility near 48.9% for Tesla options dated November 21, 2025,
- With the market pricing roughly a 68% probability that TSLA closes between $379.88 and $441.15 today. [48]
That’s a fancy way of saying: traders expect a volatile but not totally unbounded day, consistent with Tesla’s history of sharp intraday swings.
7. What Today’s News Means for Tesla Investors
Putting it all together:
- Near term:
- The Musk pay‑package case and November’s 13% drawdown are clear overhangs.
- Macro pressure on AI‑linked tech and EV names adds another layer of risk.
- Valuation remains extreme vs. the market, so any disappointment can trigger fast, deep pullbacks.
- Medium to long term:
- Rapid progress on FSD V14.2,
- A statewide robotaxi permit in Arizona,
- Expansion of rentals, charging and international market presence, and
- Aggressive plans for AI5 chips and a TeraFab‑style foundry
all support the idea that Tesla is still pushing hard to become an integrated AI + mobility + energy platform rather than just an EV maker.
Whether you see today’s move as a buyable dip or a warning shot depends largely on:
- How much you trust Tesla to execute on FSD/robotaxis and Optimus,
- How comfortable you are with very high valuation multiples, and
- Your tolerance for volatility in a stock dominated by passionate retail and institutional traders.
Important Note
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Always do your own research and consider speaking with a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
References
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