Tesla shares rise after unveiling flying Roadster

Tesla ↘ 2.13% shares rose in overnight and premarket trading on Friday, after the company unveiled its long-delayed second-generation Roadster on Thursday night. The car flipped and flew at a SpaceX test site using rocket-style thrusters. Online, fans were thrilled and skeptics doubted the claims. On Wall Street, analysts largely agreed the car is a showpiece with little effect on Tesla's finances.

The stock rose nearly 3% in overnight trading late Thursday, according to Stocktwits, and gained nearly 5% before the Friday open, Investing.com reported. The rally followed a slide that left the shares on track for their worst week in nearly three months.eletric-vehicles.com+1

A stunt-heavy debut

At the McGregor, Texas, event, the white two-seater drove upside down on a ramp using a suction system, turned in the air and landed using built-in thrusters, Reuters reported. Tesla said it would start production in 2028. It first showed the car in 2017 and had promised deliveries in 2020. The company is offering three versions. The Performance and Thrust versions are road- and race-focused, and the single-seat Rocket version can make short flights. Tesla claims all three have a range of more than 300 miles, Yahoo Finance reported. Tesla gave no price. Deposits are $50,000 for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version, according to LBC.finance.yahoo.com+2

Some viewers were openly doubtful. Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee asked on X whether a 4,000-plus-pound car doing flips and heading for half the speed of sound by 2028 was "a prank," EV reported.eletric-vehicles.com

Halo car, small volumes

Analysts called the car a brand statement, not a source of revenue. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein expects about 2,000 Roadster sales a year and calls it Tesla's new "halo car." Morningstar is keeping its $450 fair value estimate, the firm said. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the event "an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers," Indian Express reported. Dan Ives of Yorkville took a more positive view. He said putting SpaceX-derived hardware in a Tesla strengthens the case for the two companies operating as one engineering platform, EV reported. JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta kept his Neutral rating and $415 price target.global.morningstar.com+2

Focus shifts to AI and earnings

The reveal comes as Tesla moves toward self-driving technology and robotics. This year it stopped selling the Model S and X to make room for production of its Optimus humanoid robots, according to the Straits Times. Elon Musk said the Roadster will eventually be the "only manually driven car that Tesla makes," Car and Driver reported.straitstimes.com+1

Tesla reports third-quarter results on October 21. "The margin and cash flow numbers will carry far more weight with investors than anything they saw at the reveal," said Josh Gilbert, an analyst at eToro, the Straits Times reported.straitstimes.com