NEW YORK, Feb 21, 2026, 10:47 EST — Market closed.
- Tesla shares ended Friday up 0.03% at $411.82 after a cheaper Cybertruck launch and fresh price cuts.
- A U.S. judge upheld a $243 million verdict tied to a fatal crash involving Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system.
- Traders head into Monday watching whether the 10-day Cybertruck offer sticks — and whether legal risk around self-driving grows.
Tesla shares finished little changed on Friday, ending up 0.03% at $411.82, after the company tightened Cybertruck pricing again and faced a court setback tied to its Autopilot system.
The move matters because Tesla is leaning harder on pricing to stir demand at a time when investors are skittish about margins. The Cybertruck, once pitched as a high-volume pickup disruptor, is turning into a live test of how much discounting the company needs to keep orders moving.
It also lands as Tesla sells a longer-term story around autonomy and robotics. Legal headlines around driver-assistance — and the cost of fighting them — can hit sentiment even when the stock barely moves day to day.
Late Thursday, Tesla introduced a new dual-motor all-wheel-drive Cybertruck priced at $59,990 for a limited 10-day window, and cut the price of its top-end Cyberbeast to $99,990 from $114,990. Chief executive Elon Musk said the lower sticker was good “only for the next 10 days,” and Tesla appeared to drop a “Luxe Package” that had bundled features including Supervised Full Self-Driving and free Supercharger access. Analysts have warned that a bigger mix of lower-priced vehicles can squeeze gross margin — the profit left after production costs — unless Tesla offsets it with lower costs or higher software and services revenue. (Reuters)
The pricing move puts Tesla back in a familiar spot: pushing volume without saying much about what comes after the promotional window. Investors will be looking for signs the $60,000 entry point is a temporary nudge or a new baseline — and what it says about demand for the angular steel pickup.
On the legal front, a federal judge in Miami rejected Tesla’s bid to overturn a $243 million jury verdict over a 2019 crash involving an Autopilot-equipped Model S. The judge said the trial evidence supported the verdict; Tesla is expected to appeal. The award included punitive damages — meant to punish — on top of compensatory damages. (Reuters)
Broader markets gave Tesla some cover on Friday. U.S. stocks ended higher after the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, lifting major indexes even as Treasury yields rose. (Reuters)
For the week ahead, traders will be juggling big-tech earnings as a barometer for risk appetite, with Nvidia’s results on Wednesday in focus. Moves in megacaps can set the tone for high-valuation names like Tesla, even when the company’s own news flow is doing most of the work. (Reuters)
But there is a downside path. If Cybertruck discounts pull buyers from higher trims instead of expanding demand, revenue and margins can come under pressure, and investors could start treating the pickup as another price-war product rather than a profit lever. More legal exposure tied to driver-assistance claims would add noise to Tesla’s autonomy pitch.
U.S. markets reopen Monday, and the next near-term catalyst is Tesla’s own clock: if the 10-day Cybertruck offer starts from Friday, it would expire on March 1 unless extended — a date traders will watch for another pricing turn.
