NEW YORK — Tesla shares steadied on Friday, edging slightly higher in midday trading as bargain hunters stepped in a day after the stock suffered its worst single-session drop in more than a year. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) changed hands around $321, up about 0.5%, as the market digested the automaker's second-quarter results and a wave of analyst target adjustments.
The Move
After Thursday's 14.5% slide — a decline that erased roughly $214.5 billion in market value and closed $TSLA at $319.69 — Friday brought a measure of calm. Shares opened modestly higher and held a small gain through midday, a sign that some investors viewed the post-earnings selloff as an entry point rather than a warning. The stabilization is notable given the sheer size of Thursday's move, which ranked among the largest one-day drops in the company's history. The market's sharp initial reaction was captured in Thursday's session recap.
Why Friday Looks Different
Several factors help explain the steadier tone. Tesla's Q2 deliveries came in at a record 480,126 vehicles, up 25% year-over-year and well ahead of Wall Street estimates, alongside 13.5 GWh of energy storage deployments — reminders that the underlying business kept growing even as margins tightened. Those results are detailed in our coverage of Tesla's record-revenue Q2 report, and bulls point to the expanding AI and robotics roadmap as the real long-term story.
Analysts trimmed price targets but largely kept constructive ratings. UBS moved to $385, Morgan Stanley to $400, and JPMorgan to $445, leaving the average forecast near $413 — comfortably above current levels. That gap between the tape and analyst targets is part of what drew buyers back in.
