Tesla Sues Ex-Optimus Engineer Alleging Theft of Robotic Trade Secrets
Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer with the company's highly secretive Optimus program, accusing him of stealing confidential information about the humanoid robot and setting up a rival startup in Silicon Valley.
Zhongjie 'Jay' Li worked at Tesla between August 2022 and September 2024, according to a complaint filed in a San Francisco Federal Court late on Wednesday. Li worked on 'advanced robotic hand sensors—and was entrusted with some of the most sensitive technical data in the program,' Tesla's lawyers said in the complaint.
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18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lucid Group Stock: Analysts Fear This 1 Problem Is "More Consequential" Than Investors Think
The EV maker's sales are expected to explode in the coming year. But analysts fear that Lucid Group will face financing troubles. Significantly more funding will be needed in the period ahead. 10 stocks we like better than Lucid Group › Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) stock has tremendous long-term growth potential. Its market capitalization right now is under $7 billion -- less than 1% the size of Tesla. This year, sales are expected to grow by 78%. Next year, another 96% sales growth is expected. There's only one problem. According to analysts from Bank of America, there is one emerging risk that is "more consequential" than the market realizes. It's possible that this risk could eventually sink the entire business. After reporting a $397 million fourth-quarter loss this February, Lucid revealed that its longtime CEO, Peter Rawlinson, would be stepping down. It was a surprise to most investors. Rawlinson's comments made the move seem less abrupt than it appeared from an outside perspective, but his absence from the quarterly conference call drew uncertainty. After leading the electric vehicle (EV) maker for 12 years, overseeing the launch of both its Air sedan and Gravity SUV, he simply stated that it was time to move on. "Now that we have successfully launched the Lucid Gravity, I have decided it is finally the right time for me to step aside from my roles at Lucid," Rawlinson explained. Regardless of why Rawlinson stepped aside, many analysts weren't pleased. "We think the departure of Lucid's founder, CEO, and CTO, Peter Rawlinson is much more consequential than understood by the market," Bank of America analyst John Murphy explained after downgrading the stock to underperform. "We now expect product development to stall, consumer demand to be dampened, and anticipate additional funding opportunities could be put at risk." Access to funding is the most critical risk for Lucid. The company now has less than $1.9 billion in cash on the books, yet it posted a $2.4 billion loss over the last 12 months. The company already raised $1.75 billion in late 2024 despite a weak share price, and its shares outstanding have jumped by roughly 30% over the past six months. All in all, Lucid has been racing to raise cash. Yet its cash burn remains very high, share dilution is accelerating, and its share price remains in the dumps, limiting its ability to self-finance without massively diluting shareholders. If capital access is further restrained, as Bank of America believes could happen, the situation could quickly become dire. But could Lucid really go bankrupt over the next 12 months? Like most early stage EV companies, Lucid has been losing money for its entire operating history. It's very expensive to design, build, and scale a capital-intensive business like this. Only until critical scale is achieved, largely through the release of affordable mass market vehicles, do profit margins typically turn positive. Fortunately, Lucid is on the cusp of releasing three new mass market vehicles. Management recently reaffirmed that the first of these should begin production in late 2026, though these timelines are often pushed out. Meanwhile, rapid sales growth from its recently introduced Gravity platform should provide investors with additional confidence. But there's no doubt that time is limited. Some analysts have lost faith in the company, and positive profit margins are still likely years away, leaving the business dependent on outside funding to survive. While it's a very rough estimate, Lucid currently needs around $500 million in cash per quarter to stay afloat. Its current cash pile, plus additional stock sales, should give it at least another year. However, significantly more funding will be needed to get its mass market vehicles into production. That'll likely require sizable share dilution. So while the company may survive, there's no guarantee that long-term investors will benefit. Before you buy stock in Lucid Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Lucid Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,702!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $870,207!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 988% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Lucid Group Stock: Analysts Fear This 1 Problem Is "More Consequential" Than Investors Think was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
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After Trump-Musk feud, here's the next issue for Tesla stock
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
What To Expect in Markets This Week: Fed Rate Decision, Juneteenth Holiday, US Retail Sales, Tesla Robotaxi Rollout
There's a lot on the domestic calendar this week. But investors and the world are watching global affairs, too. As the weekend began—with Iran and Israel striking each other—was an urgent matter, with people dying in both countries and Iran reportedly pulling out of planned talks with the U.S. The news raised questions not only about the path forward for commodities and other markets but stability in the region and beyond. Meanwhile, several market-driving events are due in the coming days. The Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, consumer spending data, and possible news on President Donald Trump's tariffs headline the week. Thursday's Juneteenth holiday will mean a break from trading. The Fed will hand down another decision on interest rates this week, with a decision scheduled for Wednesday. The coming weekend could see Tesla providing a significant update on the direction of the electric vehicle maker. Did consumers in May continue to prop up the economy? Tuesday's U.S. retail sales will make it clear whether strong spending levels continued, while housing construction data will provide insight into whether builders are catching up with lagging inventory levels. Investors will continue to watch for trade developments as negotiations continue between U.S. officials and key trading partners. It's a light week for corporate earnings, highlighted by expected reports from homebuilder Lennar, accounting firm Accenture, grocery chain Kroger, and online used car seller CarMax. Read to the bottom for our calendar of key events—and one more thing. Fed officials have said they are keeping rates steady amid a strong labor market as they monitor inflation data for signs that Trump's tariffs are driving up prices. But the pressure is on the Federal Reserve after May inflation data came in lower than economists expected. 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Tesla is well-positioned to lead the market in the emerging technology, analysts have concluded, with Goldman Sachs writing that the EV maker could have a leg up on the competition through its ability to train self-driving through its AI development and to quickly scale production levels of the technology. Despite a light corporate earnings schedule this week, investors will still get some expected updates from noteworthy companies. Lennar's (LEN) expected report after the bell on Monday follows the homebuilder's warning of weakness in the housing market in the prior quarter. The scheduled Friday reports from accounting firm Accenture (ACN) and online car seller CarMax (KMX) will be posted in the shadow of both companies' lower-than-expected profits in the prior quarter. Quick Links: Recap Last Week's Trading | Latest Markets News Monday, June 16 Data to Watch: Empire State manufacturing survey (June) Key Earnings: Lennar Tuesday, June 17 U.S. retail sales (May) Homebuilder confidence (June) Key Earnings: Jabil (JBL), John Wiley & Sons (WLY), and La-Z-Boy (LZB) More Data to Watch: Import/export price index (May), Industrial production/capacity utilization (May), Business inventories (April) Wednesday, June 18 Housing starts (May) FOMC interest-rate decision Federal Reserve Chair Powell press conference Key Earnings: GMS (GMS) More Data to Watch: Initial jobless claims (Week ending June 14) Thursday, June 19 Financial markets closed for the Juneteenth holiday Key Earnings: Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI) Friday, June 20 Leading economic indicators (May) Key Earnings: Accenture, Kroger (KR), Darden Restaurants (DRI), and CarMax More Data to Watch: Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (June) Are you a recent graduate? Do you know one? Either way, congratulations! Investopedia's Sabrina Karl has advice for what new grads can do to set themselves up for the future. Read more about the four smart things grads can do with their gift money. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
