u/stone616 ·
Reddit — r/investing
· February 23, 2026 at 13:07
· ⬆ 259 pts
· 💬 164 comments
| View on Reddit ↗
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Summary
The post's author, u/stone616, argues that the investment thesis for Tesla has shifted from a dominant EV manufacturer to a speculative bet on future technologies like AI, robotics, and robotaxis.
The author contends that this pivot is a coping mechanism for investors as Tesla's core automotive business faces increasing competition (e.g., from BYD) and slowing demand, while the new ventures contribute negligible revenue.
Quality assessment: This is a sentiment-driven opinion piece, not well-researched due diligence (DD). It reflects a common bearish narrative and uses rhetorical questions rather than financial analysis or data to make its points. The community comments reinforce this skeptical sentiment but also lack deep analysis, labeling the stock a "meme stock" or "scam."
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People sold me on Tesla as the future of EVs. EVs were going to dominate the automotive industry and Tesla's tech especially the battery tech was so far ahead nobody would ever catch up.
Fast forward to present day and Tesla is being passed by BYD. Americans seem to be rebelling on EVs in general due to cost. Now Tesla is no longer a car company it's an AI company, an energy company, a robotaxi company, a robot company, anything other than what the business primarily does today which is sell cars.
This whole Tesla isn't a car company when right now it is obviously a car company is so wild to me. If today we banned Tesla from ever selling another car since it isn't a car company it would have zero impact on it right? Nintendo isn't a car company and if they were banned from selling cars nothing happens. I'm pretty sure if Tesla was banned form that the company goes out of business.
The initial investment thesis on Tesla collapsed right from under it's investors and instead of re-evaluating it with a level of skepticism they seem like they just blindly pivoted to a new thesis. The things they say Tesla will become don't contribute any meaningful revenue to the bottom line right now and don't seem like they will for the foreseeable future.
Don't even get me started on the supposedly autonomous robots that had remote operators. There is a long runway between robots and robotaxis being able to support this business and the present business is eroding.
Is this just people behaving irrationally with blind faith or am I missing something major?
Tesla's primary business is selling cars, and this core business is "eroding" due to increased competition from companies like BYD and weakening consumer demand for EVs in the US. The company's valuation is propped up by narratives about future businesses (AI, robots, robotaxis) that currently generate no meaningful revenue and have a long, uncertain path to profitability. There is a significant disconnect between Tesla's current market valuation and the performance of its actual, revenue-generating operations. As the core car business falters and the promised future technologies fail to materialize in the near term, the market will be forced to re-evaluate the company based on its automotive fundamentals, leading to a sharp price correction. The investment case for Tesla is based on "blind faith" in unproven future ventures rather than its deteriorating present business. This makes the stock fundamentally overvalued and vulnerable to a decline as reality sets in. A short position would capitalize on this expected repricing. The market may continue to price Tesla as a technology/AI company, ignoring automotive fundamentals for an extended period. Any breakthrough or even perceived progress in Full Self-Driving (FSD), Optimus robot, or energy storage could trigger a massive rally, invalidating the short thesis. Elon Musk's ability to generate hype can also drive the stock price irrationally higher.
This Reddit post, published February 23, 2026,
features u/stone616
discussing TSLA.
1 trade idea extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.