Tesla is "no longer investable" due to Elon Musk

As usual I bought this after a drop - and it’s kept dropping :stuck_out_tongue: I still have great belief in the brand as a whole as a truly futuristic innovation so will rethink once it levels out.

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I would says it’s a great brand, but the company’s management is not so great…

I think that depends what you think the company’s mission really is. As a company that makes cars it’s not managed with the effiency, productivity or profitability of the likes of Ford, but if you go to the about page of Tesla’s website you will find the first line is:

Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

I think the perceived problems with Tesla, and what makes it such a difficult company to hold an investment in, are due to the fact that Elon Musk is not working to make and sell cars, he is working to create a better future for humanity.

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To complete their mission first they need to survive

I agree of course, and so does the business hence the manufacture and selling of cars.

As plenty of people have been warning Elon should have been busy preparing a capital raise last year instead of posting memes on twitter whilst stoned. It’s frustrating to see but a lot of minor factors like messing around with the X doors etc is costing Tesla millions per week now in lost productivity. I still think the picture is bright, brighter even than it was at Q1 earnings thanks to the completed Maxwell acquisition but so many things are now on the back burner for second half 2019 (just one example: Model Y could be being built much sooner than planned, especially if they aren’t able to conjure more S demand and Y is more profitable than 3).

This is nothing else then investment pornography. It’s sole purpose is to entertain and produce clicks.

If you listen to those outlets to get any meaningful investment decision you probably need to reevaluate your investment strategy.

Which outlets do you mean?

Any outlet that have an interest in selling drama and gain readers with flashy headlines.

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Yes his timelines are clearly far too optimistic, and Musk is in my view flawed as a CEO and needs very strong minded operations people to talk him down (as he has at SpaceX). There is significant risk with Tesla at the moment (further dilution or even bankruptcy), but I do think he’s very good at deciding the arc of the future and aiming there with ruthless ambition - anything that gets in the way may be harmed (including employees, early customers and shareholders) - making it risky to invest in Tesla at any time.

You do have to discount the dreams he sells, and ignore the timelines, but they are usually backed by a hard-headed assessment of the future of entire industries - battery storage, solar power, electric cars etc. Bets he’s taken which I think will pay off in the long term (if the company survives that long):

  • On electric vehicles - these are already starting to take over the industry, when prices come down they will dominate
  • On self-driving cars - this won’t happen next year in any big way, but it will happen in the next 10 IMO - again an idea head of its time I think. This will revolutionise entire sectors of industry like trucking for example when it arrives.
  • On AI image recognition over a large dataset vs complicated heuristics and simulation
  • On battery manufacture - they are clearly positioning themselves to be a large scale battery manufacturer IMO
  • On automated assembly and vertical integration (though he tried this way too early without stable production models, I suspect if they survive they will double down on this and make it work, as it has at spacex)

I think if they can survive the next few years and he can find the right lieutenants to run the company with discipline they’ll be a very interesting company to watch grow.

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Who is up for another round of “OMG why did I buy TESLA” off we GO !

From Museum becomes Musk after stolen sheep snap to a job with Tesla

That’s got to be worth a 10% rise in Tesla shares right ( I’m kidding :joy: )

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I’m looking to get some at $180, very little.

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Interesting worst case scenario news.

At $10 I would buy lots of Tesla

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Price range given in the report is from $10 to $391 :rofl: I too believe it will be somewhere in that range.

However, Jonas kept his main price target for the stock at $230 and also has a bull-case forecast of $391.

:slight_smile: Seems to me Tesla is one of the better positioned companies for a trade war given the massive factory in China they plan to complete this year and their existing US factories. They have a foot in both markets for manufacturing, though if we get to an actual shooting war all bets are off - seems unlikely it will get that far though. Companies like Apple seem far more vulnerable.

A more serious threat to Tesla is a global recession, as their cars are still too expensive.

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Latest is $4000 from Ark :joy:
Easiest trade ever, buy at 10 sell at 4000

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The Funding Secured day was pretty positive for Tesla :smile:

I start to get excited if I am 1% down that day on my shares –

What’s he planning :wink:

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