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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks with former president Donald Trump during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. 

Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images

As Tesla prepares for quarterly results Wednesday, many investors have one big issue on their minds: Donald Trump.

On a forum Tesla uses to solicit investor questions online in advance of its earnings calls, dozens of inquiries poured in from retail shareholders about Elon Musk’s politics, his incendiary commentary on X, and his efforts to get Trump back in the White House.

“Elon Musk has the right to express his political views, but his public activism seems at odds with his responsibility as CEO to protect shareholder value,” an anonymous retail investor wrote on the forum. “How does Tesla address this, and can it confirm Musk’s actions are not harming sales or growth?”

The comment received 168 upvotes. Another question, which received 527 upvotes, asked if Tesla’s board is doing anything to ensure Musk’s “political engagement doesn’t detract from Tesla’s core mission and protects shareholder value and brand integrity.”

Third-quarter results are scheduled to hit after the close of regular trading Wednesday.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is concurrently the CEO of Tesla and defense contractor SpaceX and the owner of social network X. He also started a company, xAI, in 2023 to develop artificial intelligence products outside Tesla, and he’s the founder of brain computer interface company Neuralink and tunneling venture The Boring Co.

Adding to what Musk has called his “17 jobs,” he has also floated the idea to Trump that he should form a “government efficiency commission” to cut spending and slash regulations. Trump has promised to do it and to let Musk effectively lead it.

In his effort to try to push the Republican nominee and ex-president past the finish line in a deadlocked race, Musk embarked on a speaking tour in Pennsylvania to drive voter registration. He called the state the “linchpin” in this election, and Saturday he said he would randomly award $1 million a day to registered voters who sign a petition for his pro-Trump PAC.

While Musk has attracted plenty of media scrutiny for his political views, they’ve rarely been discussed at company shareholder meetings or in Wall Street analysts’ notes.

According to analyst notes compiled by FactSet, which doesn’t include all sell-side firms, the topic of Trump and the election has been almost absent from the discussion.

I find Elon Musk's foray into politics 'really off-putting', says Musk biographer Walter Isaacson

The financial impact of Musk’s politics can be hard to quantify.

But at least one venture capitalist and Tesla bull, Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster, has given it a shot.

Munster wrote in a note on Oct. 5 that Musk’s heightened “political commentary” in the past four months “may have reduced deliveries by 5-10k during the quarter.” Munster said that means the company’s U.S. numbers would have been 4% higher and total numbers almost 2% higher “if not for the political dynamic.”

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brand consultancy Interbrand, which has been running a Best Global Brands study for 25 years, found that Tesla’s brand value declined 9% this year. Tesla fell in the rankings to the 12th spot, behind automakers Toyota, Mercedes Benz and BMW, which all cracked the top 10.

“Most car manufacturers are grappling with the shift to EVs, and although Tesla was born in that territory, its changing focus is causing market confusion about the strategies it is executing,” Interband Global CEO Gonzalo Brujo said in an email to CNBC. “This has not been helped by recent introductions, like the truck falling short as competitors deliver better cars.”

The top five brands ranked by Interbrand were all tech companies that compete with Tesla for talent and, in some cases, on products: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Samsung.

Tesla’s vehicle lineup is full of models that have been around for years, including the still popular Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUV. And the company has been asking investors to focus on its plans for dedicated robotaxis, driverless software, humanoid robots and supercomputers, instead of its core automotive business.

Brujo said Musk’s antics could represent a major distraction from all of that.

“A CEO or brand aligning with anything political is taking a risk,” he wrote. “It can be polarizing, and the business or brand could risk losing customers as a result.”

Tesla shares are down 14% for the year due to an 18% slide in October. The Nasdaq is about flat for the month and up almost 22% this year.

WATCH: Musk gives $75 million to pro-Trump PAC

Elon Musk gives $75 million to pro-Trump PAC

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Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai and other tech leaders congratulate Trump on election win

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Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai and other tech leaders congratulate Trump on election win

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2024 (L), and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 2, 2021.

Reuters

Leaders of major technology companies congratulated President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance on their victory in the U.S. presidential election Wednesday.

The messages were similar, with CEOs remarking that they wish Trump success when he returns to the Oval Office, and look forward to working with his administration.

Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos celebrated Trump’s win in a post on X, calling it an “extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.”

Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post and founded space company Blue Origin, has had a rocky relationship with Trump and was a frequent target of the former president during his first term. Trump repeatedly took aim at Bezos’ ownership of the Post, Amazon’s tax record and its relationship with the Postal Service. Bezos also took swings at Trump, remarking in a 2015 social media post, “#sendDonaldtospace.” Bezos recently struck a more conciliatory tone and in July praised Trump for his “courage under literal fire” following the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally that month. Bezos has posted twice on X this year, with both posts mentioning Trump.

Andy Jassy, who took the helm from Bezos when he stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, also extended his congratulations to Trump.

“Congratulations to President-elect @realDonaldTrump on a hard-fought victory,” Jassy wrote in a post on X. “We look forward to working with you and your administration on issues important to our customers, employees, communities, and country.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X that he hopes Trump will see “huge success in the job.” In a follow up post, he wrote, “it is critically important that the US maintains its lead in developing AI with democratic values.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Trump’s election win a “decisive victory” and said he looked forward to forward to working with the Trump administration. “We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Threads, Meta’s rival to Elon Musk’s X app. The two men have also had a rocky relationship at times. In 2021, Facebook banned Trump for two years shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Musk, who also runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, space exploration company SpaceX, and brain tech startup Neuralink, also unsurprisingly cheered Trump’s win.

Musk has been a key ally for Trump in his campaign for the White House, with the former president promising prior to his election to appoint Musk as the head of a government efficiency commission. Musk also contributed nearly $75 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super political action committee that he established earlier in the year. Tesla shares rallied more than 13% on Wednesday afternoon as investors were optimistic that a Trump win would benefit the vehicle maker.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, also congratulated Trump on his victory and said he’s committed to working with the president-elect’s administration.

Microsoft CEO Sundar Pichai said: “Congratulations President Trump, we’re looking forward to engaging with you and your administration to drive innovation forward that creates new growth and opportunity for the United States and the world.”

Cisco founder and CEO Chuck Robbins wrote in a post on X that the company looks forward to working with Trump and Congress on policies around “connectivity, innovation, cybersecurity, and more.”

Box CEO Aaron Levie also sent his good wishes to Trump. He wrote in a post on X, “Wild ride. Congrats to @realDonaldTrump on becoming President again. What’s great about America is that we’re on a rocket ship right now and can keep accelerating with the right policies and execution.”

Michael Dell, CEO and chairman of Dell Technologies, added his own congratulations in a post on X.

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Super Micro shares plummet 22% after financial update heightens investor concerns

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Super Micro shares plummet 22% after financial update heightens investor concerns

Charles Liang, chief executive officer of Super Micro Computer Inc., during the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The trade show runs through June 7. 

Annabelle Chih | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Super Micro shares plunged 22% on Wednesday to their lowest level since May of last year after the embattled server maker issued disappointing unaudited financials and failed to provide specifics plans to keep its Nasdaq listing.

The stock dropped to $21.55 as of early afternoon and is now down 82% from its high in March, a selloff that’s wiped out about $57 billion of market cap.

Super Micro had its worst week on the market on record last week after the resignation of its auditor, Ernst & Young, the second accounting firm to bow out in under two years. The company faces accusations from an activist of accounting irregularities and that it’s shipped sensitive chips to sanctioned nations and companies, violating export controls.

Super Micro hasn’t filed audited financials since May and is at risk of being delisted by Nasdaq if it doesn’t report results for the latest fiscal year to the SEC by mid-November. The company said late Tuesday, in reporting preliminary results for the first fiscal quarter, that it doesn’t know when it will file annual financials.

On a call with analysts, the company said it wouldn’t discuss any questions related to Ernst & Young’s decision to resign and didn’t address corporate governance issues. CEO Charles Liang said Super Micro was actively in the process of hiring a new auditor.

Analysts at Mizuho suspended coverage of the stock on Wednesday “due to a lack of full financial detailed and audited statements.” Wedbush analysts, who have the equivalent of a hold rating on the stock, said the report left “more questions than answers.”

“Management seems fully focused on finding an auditor and resolving its late filing status,” the Wedbush analysts wrote. “However, we don’t know how significant the hurdles might be in achieving this goal.”

Liang said on the call that the company is “working with urgency to become current again with our financial reporting.”

For the quarter ending Sept. 30, Super Micro said it generated net sales of between $5.9 billion and $6 billion. That’s under analyst expectations of $6.45 billion, but is still up 181% on an annual basis. The company’s business has been booming of late because it ships servers packed with Nvidia’s processors for artificial intelligence.

NVIDIA founder, President and CEO Jensen Huang speaks about the future of artificial intelligence and its effect on energy consumption and production at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27, 2024.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

Super Micro shares soared 246% last year after jumping 87% in 2023. The stock peaked at $118.81 in March, shortly after being added to the S&P 500.

Liang said demand is strong for the latest Nvidia GPU, called Blackwell, which started shipping in recent weeks.

When asked by an analyst when Blackwell revenue might show up in Super Micro’s financials, Liang said that “we are asking Nvidia every day,” adding that the companies continue to work together closely.

“Our capacity is ready, but not enough new chips,” Liang said.

Analysts asked if the company’s plans for building Blackwell-based servers had changed, which could suggest that other server makers might receive additional capacity or allocations of Nvidia GPUs at Super Micro’s expense.

“To clarify one of the comments from earlier with respect to Nvidia, we have the deepest of relationships with Nvidia,” CFO David Weigand said. “Now we have multiple state-of-the art-projects in progress and we’ve spoken to Nvidia and they’ve confirmed they’ve made no changes to allocations. We maintain a strong relationship with them, and don’t expect that to change.”

Super Micro’s forecast for the December quarter was also below estimates. The company said revenue will be between $5.5 billion and $6.1 billion, trailing the $6.86 billion average analyst estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share will be 56 cents to 65 cents. Analysts were looking for EPS of 83 cents.

Super Micro said its board of directors had commissioned a special committee to look into Ernst & Young’s concerns. In a three-month investigation, the committee found there was “no evidence of fraud or misconduct” from management, the company said.

“The Committee is recommending a series of remedial measures for the Company to strengthen its internal governance and oversight functions, and the Committee expects to deliver the full report on the completed work this week or next,” Super Micro said, adding that it intends to take all steps to keep its listing on Nasdaq.

WATCH: Super Micro shares down on earnings

Super Micro shares down on earnings, says investigation finds 'no evidence of fraud or misconduct'

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Nintendo jumps 6% as it says current Switch games will be playable on the console’s successor

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Nintendo jumps 6% as it says current Switch games will be playable on the console's successor

The Nintendo Switch game console store in Shanghai, Feb 25, 2024. 

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Nintendo on Wednesday said it will allow current Switch games to be played on the hit console’s successor as it looks to drum up excitement among its current user base for the highly-anticipated device.

Shares of Nintendo closed 5.8% higher in Tokyo on Wednesday, after the announcement.

“Investors think this is a sign Nintendo’s next device will not be a risky experiment but rather a continuation,” Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games consultancy Kantan Games, told CNBC.

“I believe investors want Nintendo to adopt the iPhone approach of gradually improving a winning product instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with every new console generation.”

Backward compatibility of games is critical for console makers for several reasons: firstly, when new consoles launch, they often do not have a huge amount of games to choose from. Making older games available for the new Switch will boost the device’s appeal on this front.

Secondly, current Switch users who are thinking of purchasing new games ahead of the new console launch may hold off until after its debut. Making current games playable on the Switch’s successor removes that concern.

The Switch is Nintendo’s second-best selling console in history, behind the Nintendo DS.

But demand for the Nintendo Switch, which was first released in 2017, is slowly beginning to fade — albeit from high levels. Investors have been waiting for more details about the console’s successor, which the company said it will announce in its fiscal year ending March 2025.

Nintendo managed to breathe new life into the nearly eight-year-old console last year by releasing games involving top brands like Zelda and Pokemon, as well as expanding into areas like movies.

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