TLDR
- Tesla stock traded near $376.80 in premarket Thursday, down about 1% on the day.
- The stock is down roughly 15% year to date and 14% over the past 12 months.
- Tesla’s Texas cathode plant produced its first Cybercab using in-house material.
- CEO Elon Musk says the plant secures Tesla’s battery supply chain.
- Investors remain focused on robo-taxi scaling rather than battery manufacturing news.
Tesla stock traded around $376.80 in premarket action Thursday, down about 1% on the day. The stock has fallen roughly 15% this year and is down 14% over the past 12 months.
The move came as Tesla confirmed a new milestone at its Texas battery plant. The company built its first Cybercab using cathode material made entirely in-house.
Tesla’s robo-taxi account on X posted a photo of the vehicle Wednesday. The caption noted it was made “using our in-house cathode material, from the first cathode plant in America.”
About 35 Cybercabs in Devon, Pennsylvania, a 30 minute drive from Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/ezO9tVBNXW
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 24, 2026
Cathodes sit on one side of a battery and help current flow. They make up between 35% and 40% of total battery cost.
Most battery makers, including Tesla, still buy cathode material from outside suppliers. Umicore, BASF, Sumitomo Metal Mining and LG Chem are among the largest names in that business.
Why Tesla Built Its Own Cathode Plant
Musk addressed the decision during Tesla’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call. He said building the plant was less a choice and more a necessity.
“Can someone else build these things? It is very hard to build these things,” Musk said. He added that Tesla is “making moves to make sure that no matter what happens, Tesla will prosper.”
Few companies are investing in lithium or cathode refineries at this scale. That has left Tesla building much of this infrastructure itself.
Lower input costs typically help any manufacturer’s margins. But this news likely won’t move Tesla’s stock price much on its own.
Investors have largely shifted their attention away from EV production and battery chemistry. The bigger question for Wall Street is Cybercab and how fast it scales.
What Investors Are Watching Instead
Tesla launched its robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, in June 2025. That service has yet to meaningfully move the company’s bottom line, and investors are waiting to see it grow.
The Cybercab has no steering wheel and no pedals. It represents Tesla’s shift from a traditional car maker toward a company built around physical AI.
Tesla reported second-quarter earnings on July 23rd. Revenue came in at $28.24 billion, beating estimates of $26.42 billion.
Earnings per share landed at $0.33, missing the $0.50 consensus estimate. Revenue was up 25.5% from the same quarter last year.
Wall Street currently rates Tesla a consensus “Hold.” The average analyst price target sits at $412.25.
Tesla’s valuation remains high at about 352 times earnings. That leaves little room for missteps as the company leans on AI, autonomy and energy bets to justify the multiple.
Fitch recently gave Tesla its first investment-grade rating of BBB. The rating could lower borrowing costs as Tesla plans heavy spending on AI and autonomy infrastructure.
CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of Tesla stock on September 8th at an average price of $360.13. The sale, worth roughly $938,499, was tied to tax withholding on vesting equity awards.
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