I’ve stopped counting the number of Model 3s on the streets in Europe and on the other side of the pond - Tesla makes gorgeous cars.
But as a stock it is, unfortunately, very volatile. This ride is not for everyone - this is the past 5 years:
The company is fantastic and my next car will be a Tesla.
I look at mainly technology companies when it comes to investing and have watched numerous interviews with Elon and nearly got to attend one of his events focused on AI.
But Tesla is still a, mostly, car company.
Let’s take a look at a few financial metrics and comparables, because this is finance after all:
Tesla:
Sales (trailing 12 months or TTM) = 24.9 billion dollars (annualised sales)
Enterprise value (EV) = 55 billion dollars (EV = market cap + debt - cash)
Market cap = 54 billion dollars
EV/EBITDA = 25x (this is a solid metric for profitable companies vs price to sales, etc)
Source - Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Valuation Measures & Financial Statistics
Ford:
Sales (TTM) = 159 billion dollars
EV = 170 billion dollars
Market cap = 34 billion dollars
EV/EBITDA = 14x
Source - Ford Motor Company (F) Income Statement - Yahoo Finance
Daimler
Sales (TTM) = 169 billion euros
EV = 191 billion euros
Market cap = 57 billino euros
EV/EBITDA = 19x
Source - Symbol Lookup from Yahoo Finance
Meanwhile Ford is expected to launch a “USD 50k” electic car:
The new vehicle, which is also now rumored to be called “Mach E,” has been spotted a number of times in recent months in testing camouflage. There’s been speculation that it will cost around $50,000, come in short and long-range variants, and be available in rear or all-wheel drive configurations.
Source - Ford will unveil its Mustang-inspired electric SUV on November 17th - The Verge
Here’s BBC Click (tech show) on EVs - very insightful on the state of electric vehicles in 2019:
The bit about older batteries still having use in other applications was interesting: old Nissan Leaf batteries providing storage for a stadium etc. (18:15 in the video).
Thanks for the figures. Ford are going to have a difficult view years and the stock is only being kept afloat right now because of the prestige and yield. They should be acquiring an overall majority stake in Rivian asap.
As for Daimler they are starting to look a bit expensive for a traditional automaker again. They’re doing some good stuff in the trucks/vans space, will remain to be seen how that’s impacted by Tesla Semi.
Tesla’s EV is illuminating though and it’s surely got to be an acquisition target now before it’s cash/debt starts increasing? Only ones who could afford it are Toyota and VW/Porsche, or a tech giant.
(Disclosure: currently hold DAI and TSLA, have held all three within the last 12 months)
The rumours of Apple entering the Electric Vehicle market are picking up steam. Lots of rumours that they have been gathering data and testing since 2015.
This would be a massive risk but with the free cash flows they have they could easily enter that market and take a percentage, interesting times ahead.
Warren Buffet recently bought a massive stake in Apple, maybe he knows something 
$TSLA at 328 a share already 
Having gone through the Q3 2019 earnings call transcript, it is getting pretty clear that the production issues with Model 3 are behind them. Now the focus is on Giga factory III that they are building in Asia.
Read it here Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Q3 2019 Earnings Call Transcript | The Motley Fool
Tesla Energy - the Solar business - has been mentioned several times. Now that Model 3 production has stabilised they’ve moved resources back to Solar.
Also, Giga III’s production in Asia - at 3,000 a week once stable.
Model Y is an upcoming new SUV. Model 3 is the main car.
Also, there will be making Tesla Cyber Trucks that they are excited about.
And a new software update should extend the battery range.
So many EV companies are years behind Tesla in terms of tech.
Tesla “Roof” - solar panels version 3.0 unveiled
Rather than installing solar panels on an existing roof (a service Tesla also offers), this product is the roof. It’s made of glass tiles that can turn photons into electricity. From the ground, the tiles are meant to be indistinguishable from opaque slate, assuaging concerns about a trade-off between helping the environment and hurting one’s eyes. Musk showed off the first version of the product in 2016, and never disclosed the second version until Thursday. The latest version comes with a 25-year warranty and a promise that the glass can withstand 110-mph winds and chunks of hail nearly 2 inches in diameter.
…
Version 3.0, he said, uses bigger tiles and different materials (no more detail there), and cuts the number of parts and subassemblies by more than half. Work slowed while Tesla focused its resources on producing its Model 3 sedan, but now that production’s running smoothly—and profitably—it has swung its attention back to the roof.
PS
What trying to keep up with the CEO and 
rocketman must be like:
So it looks like FCA is the most likely customer for the skateboard. If their merger goes through that is absolutely Yuge revenue potential. It makes sense their given their drivetrain and the VW rumours never made sense.
But has anyone told Tesla. Also, is Tesla interested in selling its skateboards as it’s only just stabilised the Model 3 production? 
FCA are just years behind the tech, just like some of the others. Elon and co. released the blueprints a while ago, so what took these slow-moving giants so long? Tech—especially software and machine learning developments with growing datasets—don’t stay still.
Tesla has the best battery+chassis combination though, and scale with the gigafactories that others won’t be able to match for a while. This was kind of always the plan, leave the fairly capex intensive vehicle production business and sell the tech for a markup.
This exchange between Elon Musk and David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, a major shorter of Tesla 
Don’t bet against a good product. Bloomberg’s survey of Tesla car owners:
Agree with this:
“Still on the expensive side - would love to
see a sub $30k version before incentives.”
Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-tesla-model-3-survey/market-evolution.html#intro?srnd=premium
At the event, Mr Musk told AutoExpress that Britain was never in the running for a gigafactory, as it was considered “too risky” because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.
The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has said Brexit uncertainty played a role in the firm’s decision to build its first European factory in Germany rather than the UK.
The billionaire entrepreneur revealed that the firm’s European battery plant would be built on the outskirts of Berlin.
Speaking to Auto Express after making the announcement, Musk said: “Brexit [uncertainty] made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK.”