SpaceX (SPCX) reports Q3 results Tuesday after the close, with Tesla following on Wednesday, giving investors a side-by-side look at Elon Musk's two most valuable companies amid growing merger talk. Barclays said a deal could come before Tesla's December 3 annual meeting and sees SpaceX as the likelier buyer, though neither company nor Musk has committed to a deal. In an all-stock deal, Barclays estimates Musk would hold about 37% of the equity and 56% of the votes. Analysts expect SpaceX revenue of about $12.74 billion versus $7.8 billion in Q2, while investors watch whether AI capital spending of $15.8 billion in Q2 turns into sales. Connectivity revenue, which includes Starlink, rose 66% to $4.3 billion in Q2 and AI revenue was $2.6 billion, though SpaceX posted a net loss of $541 million in the quarter. Tesla is expected to earn about 43 cents a share on $27.88 billion in revenue, down from 50 cents a year earlier, and its shares are down about 17% this year.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
TSLASpaceXmergers and acquisitionsearnings
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
TSLA
• NeutralTesla, Inc.
Relevance: medium
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Automobile Manufacturers |
| Market cap | $1.4T |
| Close on 10/19/2026 | 368.06 |
| Change that session | +3.76% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Why SpaceX Stock Dropped After Earnings
SpaceX shares rose 7.8% yesterday after the company reported earnings of $0.35 per share, more than double the $0.16 analysts had expected. Its Super Intelligence business, formerly AI, turned profitable, with sales up 830% and a quarterly profit of $431 million. Today the stock is down 5.8% as of 11:45 a.m. ET. Possible reasons include a potential merger with Tesla, regulatory risk tied to alleged Starlink speed slowdowns in Ukraine, and cash burn that has exceeded $35 billion year to date.
- SpaceX Just Crushed Wall Street's Q3 Targets -- but a Potential Tesla Merger Is Even Bigger News
SpaceX reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.45 on sales of $14.58 billion, far above analyst averages of $0.13 and $12.72 billion. Revenue rose 161% year over year and net income swung to $4.4 billion from a $1.1 billion loss a year earlier; Starlink sales grew 69% to $5.25 billion, while the superintelligence segment rose about 830% to $7.56 billion. The company guided first-quarter 2027 sales to $33–37 billion, and Musk said he expects annual recurring revenue of $500 billion–$1 trillion by the end of next year. On the call, Musk said special committees had been formed to explore a merger with Tesla, that he could not take part due to conflicts, and that merging was a good idea, though shareholder approval equal to 50% of total shares would be a significant hurdle.
- Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: SpaceX, Tesla, United Airlines, Carnival, Maersk and Deere
SpaceX shares rose as much as 12% on Wednesday after Q3 results beat estimates: EPS of $0.35 against a Zacks consensus of $0.10, and revenue up 161% year over year to $14.57 billion versus $12.53 billion expected. Net income reached $4.4 billion, compared with a $1.1 billion loss a year earlier, with Connectivity revenue, which includes Starlink, at $5.25 billion and 13.6 million consumer subscribers. SpaceX reiterated a goal of $100 billion in annual recurring revenue by end-2026, and Q1 2027 revenue guidance of $33–37 billion was well above the roughly $22 billion Wall Street expected. Musk said SpaceX and Tesla have set up special committees to explore a possible merger, though no deal is certain. The article notes the stock is still more than 25% below its $225 all-time high, with an average Zacks price target of $227 from 36 analysts.
- Tesla's profit drops as it explores a possible merger with Musk's other public company, SpaceX
Tesla's third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders fell 43% from a year earlier to $787 million, or 22 cents per share, while revenue was essentially flat at $28 billion, slightly below the analyst average of $28.3 billion. Excluding certain items, earnings per share of 48 cents beat expectations by 3 cents. Free cash flow was positive at $1.5 billion despite heavy AI spending, though it was down 62% year over year, and capital spending more than doubled to $4.7 billion. Tesla cut its 2026 capital spending forecast to about $20 billion from more than $25 billion, while automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits rose to 18.1% from 15.4%. Musk said Tesla and SpaceX have formed special committees to explore a possible merger, with no terms agreed, and Tesla shares fell 3.2% after hours after rising 3.6% in the regular session.
- Tesla profits drop but top analyst estimates
Tesla's third-quarter profit fell to $787 million, down 42.7% from a year earlier, as Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker sharply increased spending on artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous transport. Revenue was essentially flat at $28 billion, while revenue from regulatory credits and from energy and storage declined and research and development spending more than doubled. The bigger headline was the disclosure that special committees at Tesla and SpaceX are considering a merger, which lifted both companies' shares and pushed Musk's wealth back to $989 billion according to Forbes.
- Tesla's Q3 profit drops as it prepares for possible merger with Musk's other public company, SpaceX
Tesla's third-quarter net income fell 44% to $787 million, or 22 cents per share, but its free cash flow surged to $1.5 billion, surprising analysts who expected the company to burn cash amid heavy AI spending. Excluding certain items, earnings of 48 cents per share beat estimates by 3 cents, while revenue was roughly flat at $28 billion and slightly short of forecasts. Capital spending doubled to $4.7 billion, but Tesla cut its full-year 2026 capital spending estimate from $25 billion to $20 billion, raising questions about future growth. Tesla also said 75% of vehicles sold in North America included its driver-assistance software subscription, and it earned 18.1 cents per dollar of car sales, up almost 3 cents from a year earlier. Musk said special committees at Tesla and SpaceX are discussing a possible merger but declined to discuss it further on Tesla's earnings call.
Related markets
Latest news
- Musk's wants to merge SpaceX and Tesla: Here's what to know
Musk said SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to study a merger, which would be worth about $3.5 trillion combined and would be the largest corporate deal in history. SpaceX, valued at about $2 trillion after a record listing this year, absorbed Musk's AI startup xAI in February, while Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion. Musk holds about 82 percent of SpaceX's voting power but only about 20 percent at Tesla. Dan Ives puts the odds of a deal at 90 percent by early 2027, though Musk called the requirement of a majority of all Tesla shares 'quite a high hurdle'. Loyal retail investors hold an estimated 25 to 27 percent of Tesla shares, and legal obstacles appear slight because both companies moved their incorporation to Texas from Delaware.
- CoreWeave and Nebius Stocks Are Crashing. Time to Buy the Dip?
Shares of Nebius and CoreWeave each fell 25% in the week of October 12 to 16. The sell-off stems from the yield on CoreWeave's debt in the secondary market surging to 15%, versus roughly 5% on Treasuries, which pushes the debt into 'distressed' territory and signals doubts about its ability to meet obligations. Nebius sold off in sympathy as a fellow neocloud company. The bigger concern is that both companies must keep issuing debt to fund data centers, and if yields are high at issuance, the assumption of nearly unlimited cheap capital could be challenged. The author says it is unclear whether now is the time to buy.
- Disney’s multiplatform Super Bowl plan frustrates ABC affiliates
ABC station owners are irritated that Disney is airing the Super Bowl across several platforms, including Disney+, ESPN2, NFL Network and ESPNU, even though the game is already on ABC and ESPN. A station group CEO estimates that the combined platforms could cut broadcast ad revenue by up to 35% compared with last year. Local affiliates typically earn about 3% of annual ad revenue from the Super Bowl and pay network owners reverse retransmission fees, but Disney+ lacks geofenced ad insertion, so affiliates cannot sell ads to streaming viewers. Disney says national commercials will be identical on all platforms and that streaming major live events is standard industry practice. Super Bowl LX drew 125.6 million viewers in February.
- Meta’s deal to keep Zuckerberg in California adds fuel to wealth tax debate ahead of election
Meta says Mark Zuckerberg will remain in California for eight years and has created a new stock plan that could help cover his taxes if Proposition 40, a 5% tax on Californians worth over $1 billion, passes on Election Day on Nov. 3. According to a filing released with its third-quarter earnings, Meta will issue non-voting Class C shares starting in January, and Zuckerberg can sell or transfer up to 20% of the shares granted to him without affecting his majority voting control. The filing says Zuckerberg’s leadership is crucial to the company’s growth and its AI ambitions, including Meta Superintelligence Labs. Most of the tech industry opposes the measure, while a recent Citrin-Politico poll found 46% in favor and 43% against, suggesting it may fall short of the majority support it needs.
- Nasdaq sell-off: A momentum unwind 'for the record books'
Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, calls Thursday’s sell-off in the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) a momentum unwind “for the record books.” He says the market spent the first half of 2026 driven by a beta and momentum trade led by semiconductors, but in the third quarter, as rates rose, money shifted into quality stocks. He does not think the sell-off is justified by fundamentals, arguing that institutional portfolio managers swapping out of factor positions can drag down whole baskets of stocks. In semiconductors, spot rental rates for Nvidia Blackwell chips are higher than a month ago, showing tightening compute supply, even as financing costs rise and investors worry about neocloud business models and the rising cost of insuring their bonds.
- Dune launches real-time data feeds covering 200 onchain trading venues
Blockchain analytics platform Dune has launched real-time market data feeds covering more than 200 onchain trading venues, aiming to bring this data into the systems of traditional financial institutions. The feeds draw trade data from 12 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and Base, about one second after execution, covering both spot trading on decentralized exchanges and perpetual futures on Hyperliquid and Lighter. Early clients include quant funds, market makers, asset managers and bank trading desks, which use the data to assess liquidity and compare prices, though Dune did not name them. Meanwhile, the tokenized stock market has grown sharply, with distributed value reaching $3.58 billion, but 16 companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, have objected to their shares being traded on OKXICE’s proposed platform, and liquidity remains fragmented.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.