Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Tslynk67]

It dropped enough that I could grab one measly share with the cash I had in my trading account...

 

[Beaver]

I just saw on a Model 3 Facebook group that all factory tours have been cancelled. The cost cutting is real.

 

[phil0909]

I'm hoping to hit the Lottery tonight so I can buy $100 million of TSLA on Monday. This price action is completely insane without any real justification. Any other auto company said they were going to watch expenses after having just raised $2+ billion and the SP would be going vertical.

Well, it IS going vertical; this sure ain't horizontal!

 

[mongo]

That's why you don't call it "autopilot" when it's at 10% of true autopilot capabilities.

Please explain (perhaps in an AP related thread) what you think a 'true' autopilot does.

There are true autopilots that do not handle speed, only heading. Some handle heading and altitude.
In a Tesla: altitude is handled by the road and suspension. Heading is handled by Tesla's AP along with speed.
Airplane autopilot does not classically have any accident/ object avoidance capability. Tesla does.

Autopilot Basics - AOPA

 

[Causalien]

That sounds really creepy. As if you're old enough to be their grandfather creepy. But hey, they're dating you. So maybe they have more financial sense than you're giving them credit for.

LOL. I enjoyed playing with generation gap.

Am a gen x, but only 2 or 3 years older than older millenials but I still call'em milkenials to highlight to financial irresponsibility.

 

[madodel]

Good old elon exaggerating urgency to prove his point. Just like how Tesla was "weeks" from bankruptcy but somehow they managed to always have at least 2 billion dollars in cash every earnings report. ....

It is a mindset that most people just can't understand. I now have more money than I ever dreamed of but I still irrationally worry if there will be enough for my kids. I clip coupons for stuff I already have too much of. Some people who didn't have all that much growing up just don't like seeing unnecessary waste. Elon is just irrationally over-reacting and unfortunately the SP will temporarily take a hit as FUDsters spin it as "the end is nigh".

 

[Nocturnal]

I have a dream (pipe dream and it'll never happen). We small retail investors who intend to hold all the way to 0 become large enough to hold a large enough fraction of TSLA (along with Elon and his other faithful) that the institutions that are just gaming the system are locked out. We are also have to stop loaning to shorts. If that were to happen, there would be no need to go private.

I just don't think we have enough money, assuming people like Ellison don't pony up along with us. He could drop another 500 million and not feel it. So either he isn't worried about the company going down and/or doesn't want to increase exposure.

 

[Ratanpara]

This is what really Elon’s meant by sending e-mail to employee, look we have $2 billions in capital spending this year, let’s spend money wisely and try to get most of the capital spending from cash flow rather then spending money from cash position we have.

 

[BioSehnsucht]

Please explain (perhaps in an AP related thread) what you think a 'true' autopilot does.

There are true autopilots that do not handle speed, only heading. Some handle heading and altitude.
In a Tesla: altitude is handled by the road and suspension. Heading is handled by Tesla's AP along with speed.
Airplane autopilot does not classically have any accident/ object avoidance capability. Tesla does.

Autopilot Basics - AOPA

Sadly it's a poor name choice not because it's inaccurate, but because people in general are uninformed and assume it means more than it does.

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

I have a dream (pipe dream and it'll never happen). We small retail investors who intend to hold all the way to 0 become large enough to hold a large enough fraction of TSLA (along with Elon and his other faithful) that the institutions that are just gaming the system are locked out. We are also have to stop loaning to shorts. If that were to happen, there would be no need to go private.

I sure hope whoever is buying right now is buying is actually in it for real. Not another T.Rowe Price.

I'm actually fully on board now with my theory that Wall St is coordinating amongst itself, either to drive maximum volatility but I really think they're being propped up by the industries that Tesla is and will be disrupting. The smear campaign is much more effect when the stock price is tanking. I think T Rowe Price was holding shares not because they were long on Tesla but to be able to control a large chunk of shares long enough for a negative event or quarter to happen and then they worked with the shorts and other hedge funds to sell in coordinated batches and take new short positions at the same time. I think that's why the stock got capped after blowout Q3 earnings and good Q4 earnings. Wall St was doing whatever it could to cap the price in order for them to pick the perfect to offload shares and maximum downward pressure. Wall St has proven time and time again that they will coordinate behind the scenes, often times illegally.

 

[gene]

100 @ 212.4

 

[madodel]

Well, it IS going vertical; this sure ain't horizontal!

UP, skyward, to the moon, Ludicrous. Hell I'd settle for Insane since that is what this is.

 

[Nocturnal]

It is a mindset that most people just can't understand. I now have more money than I ever dreamed of but I still irrationally worry if there will be enough for my kids. I clip coupons for stuff I already have too much of. Some people who didn't have all that much growing up just don't like seeing unnecessary waste. Elon is just irrationally over-reacting and unfortunately the SP will temporarily take a hit as FUDsters spin it as "the end is nigh".

Elon is a control freak right?

He can't control SP. He can't really accelerate FSD. So what does he have left? Squeezing costs. Obviously his personality does not allow him to just sit back and see what happens. People like that always have to be doing something.

 

[Causalien]

Sure, it's definitely a possible concern that they are going on a big cost-cutting drive now, and Musk's poor explanation quoted by Electrek could be cover for some other bad news.

I don't get why this has to be done in a company wide email. Usually you tell the middle managers to start cutting cost and they stop approving spending submitted to them. No need to do a company wide email and have it leak.

 

[neroden]

That's not what people are looking for when they make $40,000+ purchases. Just tell them even if Tesla does go bankrupt, someone will come along and buy them out?

Hell, it's what happened to GM -- went bankrupt, was recapitalized. And Chrysler (multiple times). And Renault. People still seem to buy from these companies.

Once there are enough cars on the road, support is forever. A company with this many active, valuable assets is NEVER shut down. Liquidiation only happens when the company's product is worthless.

Bankruptcy is the worst case for the *stockholders* (and one which I believe will certainly not happen). But it is an absolute certainty that even if, worst case, the stockholders were wiped out, the company would keep on going under new management -- car owners have absolutely nothing to fear. The Gigafactory alone is a massively attractive asset to any buyer, since there's a world shortage of lithium-ion battery production.

 

[ZeApelido]

FYI saw a flurry of trucks (5) carrying Model 3's up to San Francisco, most I have seen since probably February.

I guess they ran out of trucks because there was a F350 (!!!) carrying 3 Model 3's. #truckgate #tslaq

 

[Nocturnal]

Hell, it's what happened to GM -- went bankrupt, was recapitalized. And Chrysler (multiple times). And Renault. People still seem to buy from these companies.

Once there are enough cars on the road, support is forever. A company with this many active, valuable assets is NEVER shut down. Liquidiation only happens when the company's product is worthless.

Bankruptcy is the worst case for the *stockholders* (and one which I believe will certainly not happen). But it is an absolute certainty that even if, worst case, the stockholders were wiped out, the company would keep on going under new management -- car owners have absolutely nothing to fear. The Gigafactory alone is a massively attractive asset to any buyer, since there's a world shortage of lithium-ion battery production.

Not just many cars on the road. Tesla owners LOVE their cars, and Tesla has amazing technology. The brand has crazy high brand name recognition globally.

 

[neroden]

Unfortunately the ideal times to trade options are completely counter-emotional to what you want them to be. Dips like this are the worst time to be selling covered calls since everything is down, even though this is when we all want to scrounge up as much of a silver lining as we can.

You can get more for your calls if you go longer-term, but you'll still be getting pennies on the dollar since options are leveraged on the way up and the way down.

This is an ideal time to be buying calls or selling puts, but it's hard to double-down when you're in damage control mode.

My psychology works better for selling puts. Because of worries about margin capacity, I can't sell more puts now than I already did, but I did roll all my puts out in duration; it's an OK time to do that, though not ideal. I also rolled them down in strike somewhat in order to reduce needed margin capacity. (So, I ended up with slightly more cash on hand, lower margin requirements, a lower total exposure if Tesla goes way down and stays down, and a longer time to expiration. This works out badly if Tesla gets worse and worse for the next two years, but I really don't believe that will happen.)

 

[Huskyf]

I have an idea Elon to stop this email leaking to media fire every staff that leak informations immediatly !!!

 

[shrspeedblade]

I just saw on a Model 3 Facebook group that all factory tours have been cancelled. The cost cutting is real.

So as not to be misinterpreted, the email I just got from Tesla:

"We're making improvements to our factory. Since safety of our guests is our number one priority, we need to cancel the tour. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. If you'd like to reschedule your appointment for a future date, we're happy to coordinate with you once the factory improvements are complete."

Something is going on, I suspect beyond just cost cutting.

EDIT: No estimated date yet for resuming, told I will be emailed once available.