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

[MarcusMaximus]

It must be region dependent. When I schedule an appointment though the app, I only see service centers. In the past when I have scheduled an appointment at a SC though the app, I have had them call me later asking if Mobile service is ok, but I have not seen it as an option on the app.

Hmm. Well, that also seems like a recent(though slightly less recent than the other) change. I saw the same as you a while ago, but now it goes straight to mobile service. There is a message, though, saying that is mobile service isn’t available they may schedule for a service center.

 

[Sparky4life]

Hmm. Well, that also seems like a recent(though slightly less recent than the other) change. I saw the same as you a while ago, but now it goes straight to mobile service. There is a message, though, saying that is mobile service isn’t available they may schedule for a service center.

Of course, I also live in the middle of the Tesla Promised Land, so that may be a factor

 

[Nocturnal]

Perhaps people “could” still have Robotaxi run from their house after hours too.


Are you kidding me? A Tesla is a great “mid-life crises” vehicle. Bought mine when I was 40. The people who have been really interested in my vehicle are all over 40. Sadly the Michigan anti Service Center laws do hurt sales. (Even though I have only used mobile service to date.)

I bought mine at 39, but mostly that's because I wouldn't have been able to afford one at 20. My own observations are the younger a person is the more likely they are to be interested in Teslas. Far more young people comment than old people.

I've noticed a pattern of people who choose to complain constantly during the last couple weeks of each quarter, when tesla is clearly focusing on deliveries. Really getting tired of seeing these posts by the same people over and over at the end of each quarter, especially when they fill entire pages.

I also wonder why they have to go into service so often. ​

 

[capster]

Any particular strategies heading into earnings, selling covered calls, deleveraging, buying puts?

I, um, buy shares sometimes and, um, never sell them once I have them.

Um, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

 

[EVNow]

Day of Q1 ER - the SP was at 259. So, we are getting back to that level again after all the drama of the past 3 months.

 

[jerry33]

Very strong price action. Nasdaq going lower again but Tesla reaching new highs.

Wouldn't new highs be $400?

 

[Pezpunk]

Wouldn't new highs be $400?

day aint over yet.

 

[SO16]

Far more young people comment than old people.

True. But far more older people buy one....probably because of the cost. Fortunately the Model 3 is changing that.

 

[EVNow]

I disagree with that, it looks like normal intra-day volatility. The intraday chart pattern was looking very bullish and it just broke out. There has been a lot of buying pressure lately. That doesn't mean it will necessarily continue but traders and those looking for a good entry for more shares cause that kind of volatility just from buying pressure.

I'm basically talking about sudden spikes of volume. Accumulators spread their buys precisely to not push up the price.

Now we are officially over the Q1 pre-ER close of 258.66. After new financing deal, SP was back up to 258.35.

 

[StealthP3D]

I also wonder why they have to go into service so often.

They don't. It's just that you are far more likely to hear from someone who actually has an issue. Neither of our Model 3's have needed a single thing over the more than a year each (on average) we have owned them. I did rotate the tires on both of them but that's it. I think the complainers are loud but very much a minority. None of our other cars (all purchased new) were as easy to live with in the first year but I think much of the noise is mostly a few people trying to drum up Tesla discontent.

Please note that I am aware it's obvious Tesla needs to improve here, I just don't think the problem is as dire as many reports make it sound. It's overblown by some anti-Tesla interests. Like the guy who purposefully backed his car into the concrete wall and then took it to a body shop owned by the same family that owned a chain of fossil fuel dealerships where he had terrible service (surprise).

 

[capster]

Are you kidding me? A Tesla is a great “mid-life crises” vehicle. Bought mine when I was 40. The people who have been really interested in my vehicle are all over 40. Sadly the Michigan anti Service Center laws do hurt sales. (Even though I have only used mobile service to date.)

This. I bought a Model 3 LR/AWD (for purely altruistic reasons of course ) and a neighbor bought a 911. I get the vibe from him that maybe he feels one-upped.

 

[Drumheller]

This is only about the Say question. Nothing more.



Reality:



Doesn't exactly have the same zing, now does it?

Again, it's not good. But hyperbolic FUD that exaggerates the situation is never warranted - anywhere, let alone in the highly public, highly reported on environment of an earnings call.

Earnings calls are not complaint boxes. They're a place to ask professional questions. Want metrics to hold Tesla to account for service and communications improvement? Just ask for metrics to hold Tesla to account for service and communications improvement. It's not hard. You don't have to berate them and exaggerate to get it.

I think it depends on how recently owners attempted to contact service. My service experiences in 2016 and 2017 were fantastic. Best I ever had from any auto service in my ownership lifetime, by far.

I tried to contact service a month ago when my car disabled regen and threw an error informing me to contact service. I tried 3 calls to service throughout the evening. Could not get through to a person or even to a place to leave a voicemail. Irritating horrible menu system and the feeling of "go away". I gave up and figured I would try again in the morning. The next morning, my car had regen again and no error. I didn't bother trying to talk to Tesla again.

So, with the survey, I wonder how many people are responding from past experience vs recent experience. Had you asked me last year, I would have given a glowing "exceptional" review.

 

[M3Rider]

Thank you. Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm dumb.

You got covered under "immune" category

 

[MarcusMaximus]

I also wonder why they have to go into service so often.

*sigh* Believe me, I wish I didn’t have to. Last time wasn’t really anybody’s fault: There were 2 nails through one of my tires(I live in a new construction, so lots of nails left around) so I used the roadside assistance/loaner tire system.

And this time, I had 3 separate issues: a shorted out keyfob, charge port door wouldn’t open when pressed(obviously minor, but figured might as well fix while they were out), and the aforementioned autopilot issue. The first one there was the real reason for the original appointment, but autopilot on my car has essentially been useless for the last couple months, so I want that fixed too.

 

[Thekiwi]

Good question - I investigated this and I think the answer is "no".

There's some coarse Robinhood users numbers offered by Robinhood - it's probably above 4 million today, but both growth and actual active user base numbers are unclear.

But I think I found a good proxy to measue Robinhood growth: the Robintrack popularity of a large but "stable", low volatility, not particularly exciting company, such as General Electric:

View attachment 431642

Robinhood users holding GE grew from 213k at the beginning of 2019, to 273k today, which suggests recent 7-month user-base growth of about +28%.

TSLA holders expanded much faster: from 81k in early 2019, to 163k today - growth of +101%.

I.e. much of the growth in Robinhood users to hold TSLA can be attributed to the Tesla stock, not to the growth of the Robinhood platform itself.

‘Thanks for digging into that - I thought it worth asking to make sure we weren’t seeing something else reflected.

 

[Thekiwi]

One thing regarding the “Max pain” effect - I wonder if there might be less than normal pressure from this on Tesla stock in particular due to the peculiar amount of short interest in Tesla.

That is to say the big institutions who might try to move a stock price on a big option expiration date to maximize their unhedged option positions might have trouble selling sizable amounts of stock since they have lent it all out to short sellers?

Anyone think this is possible? (Pure speculation on my part)

 

[StealthP3D]

Big time accumulation has been happening. I haven’t seen this much strength in Tesla. Robinhood data is showing that retail is slowly cashing out, short interest is stable, who is buying?

Why are you using Robinhood as a proxy for retail investors? My understanding is that Robinhood primarily serves a very young, inexperienced clientele with mostly extremely limited funds. Meaning their impact on the share price is probably pretty subtle.

 

[Sparky4life]

I think it depends on how recently owners attempted to contact service. My service experiences in 2016 and 2017 were fantastic. Best I ever had from any auto service in my ownership lifetime, by far.

I tried to contact service a month ago when my car disabled regen and threw an error informing me to contact service. I tried 3 calls to service throughout the evening. Could not get through to a person or even to a place to leave a voicemail. Irritating horrible menu system and the feeling of "go away". I gave up and figured I would try again in the morning. The next morning, my car had regen again and no error. I didn't bother trying to talk to Tesla again.

So, with the survey, I wonder how many people are responding from past experience vs recent experience. Had you asked me last year, I would have given a glowing "exceptional" review.

Did you try using the app?

 

[M3Rider]

Anybody thinking TRowe is getting back in? Going from 10m shares to zero and now back up to 10m?
Curious how long it would take them to buy 10m.
3 more days left.

 

[anthonyj]

Why are you using Robinhood as a proxy for retail investors? My understanding is that Robinhood primarily serves a very young, inexperienced clientele with mostly extremely limited funds. Meaning their impact on the share price is probably pretty subtle.

You can also use Fidelity and see the buy/sell orders by retail on a day by day basis and the ratio of buy:sell almost always matches perfectly, so yeah it’s safe to say that institutions are doing most of the buying/propping of the stock price