• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Tesla Stock Quietly Regained From Its SolarCity Drop Despite Autopilot Backlash

By
Katie Fehrenbacher
Katie Fehrenbacher
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Katie Fehrenbacher
Katie Fehrenbacher
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 15, 2016, 3:53 PM ET
Photograph by Bloomberg via Getty Images

While Tesla has had a tough few weeks, marked by a fatal accident involving its Autopilot and a missed sales goal, the company’s stock has quietly regained a major drop after surprising investors last month with the news that it planned to buy sister solar company SolarCity.

The resurgence could indicate that investors are slowly becoming more comfortable with the $2.86 billion deal to buy the solar installer. It also could suggest that Tesla’s hard summer hasn’t yet done irreparable damage to Tesla’s brand or Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s goodwill with investors.

Three weeks ago, the electric car maker suddenly announced that it planned to buy SolarCity (SCTY) and create a company that would make and sell solar panels to generate energy, batteries to store energy, and cars to use battery-stored energy for transportation. A combined company using the Tesla (TSLA) brand would be able to cut costs, and sell all this energy tech under one roof, explained Musk to many a confused shareholder.

While Musk called the deal a “no-brainer,” and “blindingly obvious,” the market had another reaction.

Within hours, Tesla’s shares had plummeted in after hour trading by almost 10%, from $220.68 before the news hit on Tuesday morning, to $199.47 by the next Wednesday morning. By the following Monday, Tesla’s shares had dropped even more to a low of $187.87, a close to 15% drop from its share price before the deal was announced.

For more on Tesla and Autopilot, watch:

Investors had a variety of concerns about the deal, most of them financial in nature. SolarCity’s major $3.25 billion in debt was one issue, as well as its upcoming debt payments at the end of 2017. Musk’s 21% ownership and 22% ownership in Tesla and SolarCity, respectively—as well as that the companies’ boards are stocked with Musk’s friends and family—were also reason for concern.

The stock crash of course slashed billions of dollars off of Tesla’s market share. Immediately after the deal came to light, Tesla’s valuation lost significantly more than the $2.86 billion valuation of SolarCity. That loss was a major talking point from many analysts for why the deal didn’t make financial sense.

However, three weeks after the deal, Tesla’s shares have slowly and quietly regained all of that initial loss. On Friday afternoon, Tesla shares are trading at $220.07, slightly down from opening at $222.52 on Friday morning.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

That regain was despite news a few days later that there had been a fatal accident involving a Tesla car with Autopilot engaged and that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had opened a preliminary evaluation into Autopilot’s performance during the crash.

At the same time, Tesla also revealed on the fourth of July that it had missed its car shipment targets for the second quarter in a row and had to lower its 2016 year car shipment guidance slightly from a previous range of 80,000 to 90,000 down to 79,180 for the year. While the miss wasn’t all that much, it’s an unsettling trend for a company that recently decided to accelerate its goal to make 500,000 electric cars per year by 2018, two years earlier than it previously had planned.

Regardless of these two major issues, Tesla shares continued to climb back up. While they could easily fall again at any moment, it seems like investors are at least relaxing a bit from the initial shock and still seem to have some confidence in Musk’s sweeping and audacious vision of Tesla.

About the Author
By Katie Fehrenbacher
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
Fortune Secondary Logo
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

iran
Middle EastMiddle East
Iran’s revenge: drones damage data centers for Amazon Web Services, reveal west’s Achilles Heel
By Kelvin Chan and The Associated PressMarch 3, 2026
6 hours ago
Trump sits and gestures.
PoliticsMiddle East
Trump threatens Spain with trade war after it refuses to roll over and lend its army bases to the Iran effort
By Fatima Hussein, Suman Naishadham and The Associated PressMarch 3, 2026
6 hours ago
A view of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility in Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City. Photo: Stringer/dpa (Photo by Stringer/picture alliance via Getty Images)
EnergyIran
U.S. oil and gas exporters can’t fill the Middle East supply gap, but Trump’s pledge to insure and protect tankers stems the tide on surging prices
By Jordan BlumMarch 3, 2026
6 hours ago
Photo of Jamie Siminoff
LawGoogle
Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff believes if people had more doorbell cameras, we may have already ‘solved’ the Nancy Guthrie case
By Catherina GioinoMarch 3, 2026
6 hours ago
Personal FinanceGold
What would $5,000 worth of gold purchased in 2016 be worth in 2026?
By Joseph HostetlerMarch 3, 2026
7 hours ago
AIIran
Trump’s strike on Iran and the new breed of AI wars mean bombs can drop faster than the speed of thought
By Jake AngeloMarch 3, 2026
8 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Interest on the $38.8 trillion national debt has tripled since 2020, and it already costs taxpayers more than defense and Medicaid
By Nick LichtenbergMarch 2, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Middle East
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard controls a sprawling business empire that dominates the economy
By Jason MaMarch 2, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of March 2, 2026
By Danny BakstMarch 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Middle East
U.S. military gives Iran a taste of its own medicine with cheap copycat Shahed drones, while concern shifts to munitions supply in extended conflict
By Jason MaMarch 1, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, March 3, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMarch 3, 2026
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
AI
American schools weren’t broken until Silicon Valley used a lie to convince them they were—now reading and math scores are plummeting
By Sasha RogelbergMarch 1, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.