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

[mblakele]

Tesla Vehicle Safety Report | Tesla Canada

At Tesla, we believe that technology can help improve safety. That’s why Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. We believe the unique combination of passive safety, active safety, and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and...

www.tesla.com

Update for 2021Q1

Q1 2021​

In the 1st quarter, we registered one accident for every 4.19 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 978 thousand miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there is an automobile crash every 484,000 miles.​

 

[jerry33]

A stock split is not gonna happen until sometime after there is a stockholder vote to authorize issuing additional shares. (Which I would expect to occur at the annual stockholders meeting in July.)

There are still enough authorized shares to do a 2:1 split. Though it wouldn't be as effective as 5:1 or 10:1.

 

[MP3Mike]

There are still enough authorized shares to do a 2:1 split. Though it wouldn't be as effective as 5:1 or 10:1.

Would there be enough unissued authorized shares left after that to continue to honor their employee stock options?

 

[ggies07]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1382874560433778695

Elon: I was just there, driving Cybertruck around the site where it will be built!

I've never been a truck guy, but I've wanted the Cybertruck since it debuted. BUT NOW, I really want one so I can just drive around on a dark and rainy day whilst listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack.....will be so ****ing cool.

 

[Mo City]

Tesla Vehicle Safety Report | Tesla Canada

At Tesla, we believe that technology can help improve safety. That’s why Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. We believe the unique combination of passive safety, active safety, and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and...

www.tesla.com

Update for 2021Q1

Q1 2021​

In the 1st quarter, we registered one accident for every 4.19 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 978 thousand miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there is an automobile crash every 484,000 miles.​

Fabulous news. This drives a stake into flailing arguments from haters and doubters of AP.

The next big question is what happens to accident stats when FSD Beta goes general in v.10. (I'm on pins and needles waiting on v.9).

 

[Sofie]

I smell a big jump in the SP at any time in the next few weeks. Wouldn't it be awesome to see a stock split at the same time! More good news keeps on coming. BTW Munro discussed new unidentified molecular structure in Tesla's parts which put them light years ahead of any competition.
To the Moon and then Mars indeed.

That sounds fun!!!

 

[Curt Renz]

Newsthink - today:

 

[Prunesquallor]

I smell a big jump in the SP at any time in the next few weeks. Wouldn't it be awesome to see a stock split at the same time! More good news keeps on coming. BTW Munro discussed new unidentified molecular structure in Tesla's parts which put them light years ahead of any competition.
To the Moon and then Mars indeed.

May your sense of smell be bloodhound sharp.

 

[Prunesquallor]

I've never been a truck guy, but I've wanted the Cybertruck since it debuted. BUT NOW, I really want one so I can just drive around on a dark and rainy day whilst listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack.....will be so ****ing cool.

I’ve never been an RV guy, but if someone comes up with a killer trailer or pop-up for Cybertruck, I’m in.

 

[buttershrimp]

If you switch to private banking, you will get much better forex rates. You need a certain net worth to qualify for private banking, but it isn’t that high and you probably qualify. That is easier than doing the Norbert gambit.

For margin rates, I would ask your brokerage directly if they will lower your rates. I did that a couple years ago and was changed to prime. If they won’t, threaten to move and they will probably make the change for you. I’m with Scotia iTrade.

I second that, thanks to this forum, i learned you can negotiate margin rate, and so I simply did just that with Schwab. They will even give you cash bonus to deposit more money. I got 2.5% margin rate now because i offered to move some more money over. The trick is to dangle the fact that you have lower rate at other brokerage and that you have more money on the way that you are debating to move. And if you have enough assets you are willing to move, they will give you straight up cash even if you don’t use the margin.
I’m very thankful to the folks on this forum and in Tesla community very open with their knowledge and willing to help fellow Tesla owners out who are fighting the good fight.

 

[JRP3]

I’ve never been an RV guy, but if someone comes up with a killer trailer or pop-up for Cybertruck, I’m in.

Have you seen the Cyberlandr?

 

[Hock1]

There are still enough authorized shares to do a 2:1 split. Though it wouldn't be as effective as 5:1 or 10:1.

To be clear, a stock spilt of any amount could happen at any time. However, a stock dividend of more than 2 for 1 cannot happen without shareholder approval for an increase in authorized shares. A share dividend has the affect of, not only being a boon for the shareholders per se but, being a big problem for the short sellers. We have already seen the results of a share dividend in late 2020. Big difference.

 

[MP3Mike]

To be clear, a stock spilt of any amount could happen at any time. However, a stock dividend of more than 2 for 1 cannot happen without shareholder approval for an increase in authorized shares. A share dividend has the affect of, not only being a boon for the shareholders per se but, being a big problem for the short sellers. We have already seen the results of a share dividend in late 2020. Big difference.

I thought Delaware, where Tesla is incorporated, laws only allowed stock dividends not splits...

 

[Tim S]

Washington state lawmakers vote to phase out gasoline cars by 2030

The bill awaits Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature

www.theverge.com

"Washington state lawmakers have passed a measure that would phase out the sale of gas-powered vehicles starting in 2030."

 

[Knightshade]

Washington state lawmakers vote to phase out gasoline cars by 2030

The bill awaits Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature

www.theverge.com

"Washington state lawmakers have passed a measure that would phase out the sale of gas-powered vehicles starting in 2030."

Note the measure is fairly high in its aspirational goals vs real mandate score... still, nice to see.

Would there be enough unissued authorized shares left after that to continue to honor their employee stock options?

IIRC, nope.... best they could do is like a 1.9:1 or something (I think someone did the math a while back, it might be like 1.8767 or something, whatever it was was less than 2:1)

I thought Delaware, where Tesla is incorporated, laws only allowed stock dividends not splits...

I recall the same- in fact that was used as an argument for why this was "really" just a normal split but DE law required them to "call it" a dividend.

 

[2daMoon]

Washington state lawmakers vote to phase out gasoline cars by 2030

The bill awaits Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature

www.theverge.com

"Washington state lawmakers have passed a measure that would phase out the sale of gas-powered vehicles starting in 2030."

So many laws like this aiming for phase out in 2030 and beyond.

Doesn't it seem rather optimistic to presume there will be gas-powered vehicles for sale in 2030 on which to apply such measures?

 

[AudubonB]

So many laws like this aiming for phase out in 2030 and beyond.

Doesn't it seem rather optimistic to presume there will be gas-powered vehicles for sale in 2030 on which to apply such measures?

Which came last - the chicken or the egg? AKA a forcing function: the extent to which such legislation occurs will predetermine the lack of need for such. If US states encompassing...25%? 30%? surely less than 35%...of the nation’s population enact such laws, then capitulation is assured.

But to address the underlying point of your question, I am neither so sanguine nor starry-eyed to believe that what otherwise is so obvious to you, to me and I hope the to rest of this forum - that EVs no longer are the cars of the future but of the present - will by itself be enough to extinguish ICEs by 2030. And furthermore, who ever heard of a politician not eager to be first to jump on a bandwagon which from his or her viewpoint is in fact the front end of a fast-moving steamroller.

 

[pz1975]

I first posted this here in 2013, but it deserves a repeat: Tesla vs. "Rent Seekers"

Excerpts:

...Rent seekers are individuals or organizations that have succeeded with existing business models and look to the government and regulators as their first line of defense against innovative competition. They use government regulation and lawsuits to keep out new entrants with more innovative business models. They use every argument from public safety to lack of quality or loss of jobs to lobby against the new entrants. Rent seekers spend money to increase their share of an existing market instead of creating new products or markets. The key idea is that rent seeking behavior creates nothing of value.

These barriers to new innovative entrants are called economic rent. Examples of economic rent include state automobile franchise laws, taxi medallion laws, limits on charter schools, auto, steel or sugar tariffs, patent trolls, bribery of government officials, corruption and regulatory capture. They’re all part of the same pattern – they add no value to the economy and prevent innovation from reaching the consumer...

...According to the Gallup Poll American consumers view car salesman as dead last in honesty and ethics. Yet when Tesla provided consumers with a direct sales alternative, the rent seekers – the National Auto Dealers Association turned its lobbyists loose on State Legislatures robbing consumers in North Carolina, New York and Texas of choice in the marketplace.

In these states it appears innovation be damned if it gets in the way of a rent seeker with a good lobbyist.

Much like Paypal, it’s likely that after forcing Tesla to win these state-by-state battles, the auto dealers will have found that they dealt themselves the losing hand...

I don’t have anything to add to this, but I just wanted to tell you Curt that I remember reading that post back in 2013! I have used your words to explain this concept to many people over the years. Thanks again for all your great contributions here!

 

[AudubonB]

And again it’s time to fire up the Look-Back-in-Time Machine. This time, though, it’s not so far back - only to last September.

But first, today has been the 2nd anniversary of that fateful 17 April 2019 presentation by unconvicted fraudster Trevor Milton, and his Nikola Truck Reveal in Scottsdale AZ.

How lucky I was to snag an invite! How amazed I was to find a new champion Goalpost Mover! Was it an electric truck? Was it hydrogen? A Hybrid? A CNG? Were there natural gas fields owned that would....errr, do just what, exactly? And what about the electric SUVs zipping around the obstacle course outside (not even manufactured by Nikola, by the way).

so, into the Look Back machine, and my post of 21 September. Not from this specific thread, but from the Nikola sub thread:


The one large caution I hope all can consider is that this imbroglio does not further diminish, delay and distract the Big Picture, which is to end the Ice Age. Unfortunately, I’m not seeing a lot that suggests otherwise.

This by no means suggests I find it unfortunate Mr Milton has been exposed. Far from it. But that he was able to perpetrate this I lay 100% of the fault upon those who did NOT perform their own due diligence: the investment community, the investment bankers, the associated firms like Bosch, GM, Iveco and so forth, the news outlets - there is an awful lot of blame to go around and there are a lot of places to lay it.

I also reiterate that we now have Exhibit A - to the effect that no B, C or D need be hauled out - as to why Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, aka SPACs, are a terrible idea and should be outlawed. This is notwithstanding Mr Palihapitiya’s efforts and successes and the gains I have incurred through his IPOA, and I also expect I would be trounced in a one-on-one with him were we to debate this issue (although I’d still be right..... ). Yes: one can do good and do well with a SPAC. But it is a vessel custom-made to enable and empower a fraudster and there are too many such out there.


Oh - did you think that this post was about Nikola? No. My distaste for SPACs now has come front and center to the likes of the various Jim Cramers of the airwaves, to Wall St investment banks...and to Congress and the SEC.

And if you’re still reading this and if you’re wondering about how I fared with IPOA-now SPCE...a last thread from three months ago:

• Jan 27, 2021
• And....SPCE now SOLD at $57.18, net.
  
  That gives me a very large hunk of cash; need to make sure I carve out some for the taxman but I wonder whether anyone has an opinonion of a company trading as "TSLA"?????

I got in at IPOA/SPCE's IPO; missed selling at its High Water mark by a mouse hair. Closed this last week at $23.38.

 

[Tslynk67]

Since this is in context of moon missions, go with the master:
In Heinlein's “The Man who Sold the Moon”, industrialist D. D. Harriman convinces a soft-drink company to help bankroll his moon mission by pointing out one of their rivals could fashion a product logo on the lunar surface visible from earth.

Also, in the futuristic storyline of “Cloud Atlas”, the Japanese are using gigantic laser projectors to image advertising on the new moon.

And in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (highly recommended reading, BTW), the moon has forests:

The picture he was cleaning showed an armored figure standing in a desolate landscape. It had no weapon, but held a staff bearing a strange, stiff banner. The visor of this figure's helmet was entirely of gold, without eye slits or ventilation; in its polished surface the deathly desert could be seen in reflection, and nothing more.
...
"...There's your blue Urth coming over his shoulder again, fresh as the Autarch's fish.'"
"Is that the moon? I have been told it's more fertile."

"Now it is, yes. This was done before they got it irrigated. See that gray-brown? In those times, that's what you'd see if you looked up at her. Not green like she is now. Didn't seem so big either, because it wasn't so close in - that's what old Branwallader used to say. Now there's trees enough on it to hide Nilammon, as the saw goes."