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

[Doggydogworld]

Another detail from the update letter:

"While we saw an increase in operating expenses in Q4 (driven mostly by $72M of non-cash SBC expense related to one more 2018 CEO award operational milestone becoming probable), higher gross profit resulted in a 72bp sequential improvement of GAAP operating margin to 4.9% in Q4."​

Put differently, Tesla and their PwC auditors now consider it probable that Tesla's market cap will stay above $100b for the next ~6 months, I.e. above around $554.

"Operational milestone", not market cap. I assume this means the 3.0b annualized adjusted EBITDA.

Listening to call now - "feature complete" now means an above zero chance of getting you from home to work without intervention.

 

[N5329K]

Money GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY
Whoo hoo.
Robin

 

[Thekiwi]

Hilarious Segway

Elon: "Retail investors are smarter than institutional analysts."

moderator: "Now let's take some questions from institutional analysts."

 

[davecolene0606]

Disappointed in the SAY questions that got upvoted.

Fire Away!
(It's the batteries, Stupid!)

 

[bigsmooth125]

From "not an advice" to giving advice. Did I wake up in an alternative universe?

my 2 cents as someone who has been through a LOT in the last 22 years-
as soon as you realize that you are on the wrong side of a trade the only thing left to do is liquidate your losing position and go long
i would personally in this situation NOT chase any call options, which are extremely richly priced currently, but instead go long with common stock and stop trying to time the market and instead keep shares long for at least another 10 years which will likely net you anywhere from 10X to 20 X ROI

 

[dl003]

Listening to Elon squirm trying not to call analysts idiots is golden

 

[Fact Checking]

Listening to Elon squirm trying not to call analysts idiots is golden

Well squirmed!

 

[Cosmacelf]

Q: Shanghai, any opex reduction?

A: Shanghai has been very cost efficient. Labor, materials, capex, localizing supply chain, outbound shipping, all this plus more results in lower costs. So, significant cost reduction of Model 3 in Shanghai versus Fremont.

Opex will continue to improve, as well as working capital because of all this.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Q: why not raise money?

A; We are spending money as fast as it makes sense as it is. So no need to raise money. We are not limited by cash. We learned during Model 3 launch in that we tried to grow too quickly, wasted money, had wasteful processes. We are now smarter. We are launching 2 vehicles now (Model Y and Model Y shanghai I presume).

 

[azaz]

"won't be long till S is 400 mile range"

 

[Cosmacelf]

Q: Model S/X flat sales. When will they go to 21700 batteries.

A: Core chemistry of 18650 cells has been changing over time, so its just a form factor, not a big deal. Rapidly approaching a 400 mile range for Model X (I think he said X). Cell supply is an issue, so no need to monkey with that.

Range for current S and X are actually above what web site EPA range says.

 

[Pezpunk]

400-mile Model S coming very soon. and he's not talking about a "double-stacked" battery. sounds like from the existing 18650 100kwh battery.

 

[SMAlset]

Adam acknowledges retail questions were excellent LOL

 

[Beltsbear]

Adam Jonas with a dumb question, Can Starlink be fitted to Tesla cars. Mostly dumb because its not necessary or profitable.

 

[azaz]

what the **** is Adam Jonas talking about

 

[kengchang]

Starlink on Tesla vehicle has been covered so many times... wtf Jonas

 

[X Fan]

AJ from MS up first....geez....

 

[azaz]

what compelled this gentleman to wonder how to incorporate starlink in teslas.

like what is the relevance

 

[Cosmacelf]

Oh F: first analyst is Adam Jonas from Morgan Stanley. Asks question about cars and Starlink.

A: Could happen in future years, no plans this year. Starlink is meant for homes and businesses, boats. Could theoretically stick one on a car.

Jonas keeps asking about sticking a starlink on a car.

Elon: we'll just use 4G/5G. No real need for gigabit. So I guess it could be OK. But we really aren't thinking about it.

 

[PhaseWhite]

"won't be long till S is 400 mile range"

Take my money!