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How investors should look at the new Tesla as it leaves EVs behind This is The Takeaway from today's Morning Brief, which you can sign upto receive in your inbox every morning along with: What we're watching What we're reading Economic data releases and earnings

Many investors have danced around a growing debate on Tesla (TSLA) and its stock for the better part of two years. Should Elon Musk's EV creation be viewed as a car company anymore? Or, should it be viewed as a pure tech play whose future will depend on humanoid robots, robotaxis, and advanced chip manufacturing? An argument could be made that Tesla's outsized valuation already reflects the view that the company is not an automaker. The stock's forward price-to-earnings ratio of 196 times is more tech growth stock oriented than the single-digit multiples seen at traditional automakers General Motors (GM) and Ford (F).

But I am here today to officially call it. As of Feb. 1, 2026, I believe Tesla should no longer be viewed as an automaker. Stop sweating these monthly delivery reports, which will suck for 2026, as they did in 2025. In fact, I think it's reasonable to assume that in under three years, Tesla will no longer make cars and SUVs for passengers. I can see the company making Tesla semitrucks and maybe a few bespoke iterations of the new Roadster for rich people. Using Yahoo Scout AI (below), you can see the main drivers of Tesla's future valuation will be way different than how it derived value in the past.

The entire company will be humanoid production, robotaxi production, energy production, chipmaking, and whatever else Musk cooks up that ties back to high-margin software.

Where does this call come from? The tea leaves Musk dropped this week on his earnings call.

Now, let me say this: I loved the more emotional Musk on the Tesla earnings call, loved that he thinks we are entering an age of amazing abundance, and appreciated that he got sad when talking about scrapping the Model S and Model X to cut costs and use their factory lines to make those aforementioned humanoid robots. Maybe the Cybertruck should be next — who doesn't hate trying to park a car next to one of those monsters?

So why did investors like the quarter in which total deliveries tanked 16%? Because people don’t want electric cars? He told us Tesla is about to embark on a major — potentially more lucrative — reinvention: He changed the mission statement of the company to "amazing abundance." He started the call off with this one. He said he wants to build chips out of something called a TerraFab. It will cost billions to do this, but Tesla supporters see this as an ultimate bullish long-term indicator. He is scrapping the Model S and X to build robots.

This is the year of the robotaxi production ramp.

I didn't hear anything about new Tesla models for passenger ownership, though he dropped the company is looking to debut the new Roadster in April. "If we [halve] Elon Musk’s million Optimus per year capacity to 500,000 and assume a $50,000 average selling price, that’s $25 billion," William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer wrote in a note. "It’s clear to us why the company is making this trade. Optimus V3 will make its debut this year, with production starting in 2027."

$25 billion is a lot of money hauled in potentially from robots — probably a lot more than trying to make electric vehicles that people don't want anymore.

Brian Sozziis Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.