Blog Musk Again Calls Analyst Questions ‘Boneheaded,’ But Says He Was ‘Foolish’ to Ignore Them

On Wednesday’s Q1 earnings call, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk dismissed two questions from analysts, calling them “boneheaded” and “dry.” Then, Friday, he took to Twitter to defend the diss.

Musk suggested that followers not interested in “a tedious discussion about Tesla stock” ignore the thread. He then went on to explain that the analysts he cut off were representing a short-seller thesis, meaning they’re betting the stock price will decline.

https://twitter.com/x/status/992361223793487872

https://twitter.com/x/status/992367087761817600

On Tuesday’s call, Musk interrupted Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi when he asked about the company’s capital requirements. Musk complained the questions were “not cool” and called for the next caller.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak then asked about the percentage of Model 3 reservations that the company had started to configure. “These questions are so dry. They’re killing me,” Musk said after again dismissing the question and requesting to “go to YouTube.” Musk had previously agreed in a Twitter conversation to allow a video blogger to ask a question on the call. Musk then proceeded to take a range of questions from the blogger for more than 20 minutes.

Musk said he ignored the Bernstein question because it was answered in the headline of the letter the company issued prior to the call. He seemed to point at the incredible demand for the Model 3 as as a suitable deflection for Spak’s question.

https://twitter.com/x/status/992374493132742656

“This is a financial analyst call, this is not a TED talk,” Sacconaghi told CNBC Thursday.

Musk, however, did cede that he should have addressed the questions.

https://twitter.com/x/status/992381848104747008

Tesla stock dipped as much as 7 percent in Wednesday’s after-hours trading, then ended down 5.5 percent to $284.45 on Thursday. The stock was trading up at $287.07 at publication of this article.

 

[malcolm]

"Finance is so weird."

You'd think from the number of gurus, prognosticators, seers and shamen in sharp suits who must be listened to with respect and reverence, that High Finance is some sort of religion.

Elon just broke wind in "church"

Bad Elon.

Say ten Hail Rockefellers perform an act of due diligence.

 

[Visscher]

Who cares. He doesn’t need people betting against him. He does want stable money from stable people who are in it for the long term, not to make his stock volatile.

Now he has a healthier balance of stock holders and it does nothing to affect his long game.

 

[traxila]

Who cares. He doesn’t need people betting against him. He does want stable money from stable people who are in it for the long term, not to make his stock volatile.

Now he has a healthier balance of stock holders and it does nothing to affect his long game.

If you think the day traders just took a walk you are mistaken.

BUT, I LOVE ELON!

Thank you for the most entertaining and on the money earnings call in the recent history of these dog and pony shows. Not that I have anything against dogs and ponies. My daughter says they are great!

 

[Tjowers95]

Shareholders fear how the consumer market will react to the nuances of charging a vehicle rather than pumping. I think most are in a chaotic state of emotion when it comes to investing in electric. Their logical side must be screaming to invest--decades of global initiatives pushing for the transition to clean power; decades of OPEC's cruel dictatorship scaled with the actions of ideological middle-eastern factions; decades of exaggerated marketing and over-pricing in the automotive industry.

People are fed up.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

Sure the stock dropped 5-1/2% yesterday, apparently due to the kerfuffle. Oh well: it's volatile -- and up quite a bit today. I'm in for the long haul -- it's WAY above my purchase price. I'm quite satisfied with performance, and confident in the long-term payback.

 

[jelloslug]

Shareholders fear how the consumer market will react to the nuances of charging a vehicle rather than pumping. I think most are in a chaotic state of emotion when it comes to investing in electric. Their logical side must be screaming to invest--decades of global initiatives pushing for the transition to clean power; decades of OPEC's cruel dictatorship scaled with the actions of ideological middle-eastern factions; decades of exaggerated marketing and over-pricing in the automotive industry.

People are fed up.

Of all the worries I have heard about with Tesla, this by far, is the longest reach I have read in a long time.

 

[pdq]

Of all the worries I have heard about with Tesla, this by far, is the longest reach I have read in a long time.

I agree.

All you have to do is spend 20 minutes reading their quarterly financials and it tells you why Wall Street is worried. That's all that's needed -- no reason to conjure up weird stuff.

 

[Brando]

"Finance is so weird."

You'd think from the number of gurus, prognosticators, seers and shamen in sharp suits who must be listened to with respect and reverence, that High Finance is some sort of religion.

Elon just broke wind in "church"

Bad Elon.

Say ten Hail Rockefellers perform an act of due diligence.

Ever hear of the term "Banksters".
banksters

1. a member of the banking industry seen as profiteering or dishonest.
   "nothing ever seems to happen to any of the banksters who caused all the problems in the first place"
2. Especially true of Wall St. Banksters. no sales taxes, every transaction a fee, no accountability for anything, they just want you to trade, trade, trade. Why would that be? Oh, and they don't pay income taxes, some how their pay is considered capital gains. No payroll taxes for them. You pay payroll taxes - Social Security and Medicare - which is why they are called entitlements - you wage earners pay them for your entire career, so you are entitled to them.
3. Unless you are a Bankster that is. </rant>

 

[Rob R]

Price back up to $294 at time of writing this. I do not think the price effect will be more than a 72 hour flap.

That said, it was unprofessional of Elon to treat the analysts with such disrespect publicly. The structure of the call could have been tweaked to minimise the annoyances, or the finance director, who was very good, could have answered back, dry dull word for dry dull word.
It was right to get Galileo Russell on to ask questions on behalf of long term investors, but this should not have come across as a way to relieve Elon's boredom.
Elon is a smart guy, and I am sure this problem will not be allowed to recur.

 

[lklundin]

Self-styled "Lead sell-side equity research analyst focused on the U.S. Autos" Joseph Spak is now trying to bait Musk into participating in his peddling of his Tesla sell-side story:

Hey, Elon Musk: The 'Dry' RBC Analyst You Hushed on Tesla's Q1 Call Wants a Word

It is naturally insincere when Spak offers:
"Tesla remains an amazing company with a compelling long-term opportunity and in incredible list of accomplishments already under its belt"
- and the goal is to actually get to talk to Musk again, so that afterwards Spak can promote his sell-side business by asserting:

"Look, Musk came back to me the genius analyst, the man is clearly mentally unstable and unfit to be CEO of anything, really. He should just go back to dreaming of cars in space or whatever it is geeks like Musk do".

 

[mspohr]

It seems that Elon is not the only person who has a problem with analysts:

CEO berates analysts on conference call: 'You are a disaster...they will have to commit suicide'

The chief executive of mining and resources company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.CLF, -0.18% slammed a Goldman Sachs analyst on the company's earnings call earlier Friday, accusing him of failing to understand numbers. "You don't understand your own business. You are a disaster. You are an embarrassment to your parents," Lourenco Goncalves said in response to a question from another analyst on the call, according to a FactSet transcript. He later challenged Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Korn to ask a question, after the operator said Korn was not on the call. He finished the conference call with a direct message for Korn. "Matthew Korn from Goldman Sachs, you can run, but you can't hide. I will see you at the Goldman Sachs Conference, very soon and bring your commodity that guy because you owe me that for the last year. It will be easier for you if you have the commodity that guy with you interviewing me. If you are alone, it would be a lot worse, it will be bad no matter what, but it will be a lot worse if you're alone," Goncalves said. Cleveland-Cliffs shares fell 5.6% on Friday but are up 50% in 2018, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.04% has gained about 4%.