NEW YORK — Tesla stock ($TSLA) traded modestly higher around midday Wednesday, changing hands near $363, up roughly 1 percent from Monday's $358.97 close, as fresh Tesla-SpaceX merger speculation and steady robotaxi momentum kept sentiment firm after a soft start to the week.
The move follows a choppy Monday, when both $TSLA and the Nasdaq-listed SpaceX/xAI entity ($SPCX) dipped about 2 percent before recovering slightly. The catalyst behind Wednesday's firmer tone is the same story energizing bulls all week: Elon Musk's comments at the All-In Summit, where he declined to rule out combining Tesla and SpaceX and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the two are integrating "faster than I thought." For the full context, see our report on why merger talk has become the market's favorite Tesla catalyst.
The why behind today's move
Wall Street is treating the merger chatter as a potential value unlock rather than a distraction. JPMorgan called a tie-up "strategically coherent on paper," citing overlap across AI, robotics, energy, transportation and space, while Jefferies estimated Musk could retain roughly 55.3 percent voting control in a no-premium structure that would still leave room for Tesla shareholders to benefit. On the prediction market Kalshi, traders now peg the odds of a merger before 2028 at 66 percent. Layered on top is operational momentum: Tesla's robotaxi service is on track to run 24/7 next month as FSD v15 arrives, and the fleet keeps compounding autonomy miles at a rapid clip.
Where the tape stands
Tesla — NASDAQ: TSLA — recently changed hands around $363, within a 52-week range of $297.38 to $498.83 and against a market capitalization near $1.41 trillion. The average 12-month analyst price target sits close to $390, with the Street-high case reaching $600 on autonomy and robotics optimism. $SPCX, the combined SpaceX and xAI company that trades on the Nasdaq, ticked higher alongside $TSLA as investors priced in the possibility that the two Musk ventures grow only more entwined. Traders can track live quotes on Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA), Google Finance (https://www.google.com/finance/quote/TSLA:NASDAQ), WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/TSLA) and Nasdaq (https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/tsla), with matching pages for $SPCX (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SPCX).
What to watch next
The near-term swing factors are clear: any further signal on the merger's structure or timing, the October 1 Roadster reveal near SpaceX's McGregor test site, and a clean FSD v15 rollout that would put Tesla's robotaxi network on an around-the-clock footing. Each feeds the AI-and-autonomy narrative that has increasingly driven $TSLA more than quarterly delivery counts. As detailed by Teslarati, Musk's latest comments did not confirm a deal, but they did not rule one out either, and for now that is enough to keep the bulls engaged.
This article does not constitute financial advice. Readers are advised to do their own research before investing in the stock market. Prices cited are point-in-time snapshots and may be stale — always confirm on a live financial source.
