TSLA market cap is half of Uber

[Deeppurple]

...and we all know that Uber is just an app and a loosing business based on the past years, plus they don't really have much of tangible assets. Even if Uber comes up with a a FSD tech buying a million of cars at, say $40k a piece will be $40 billion which is about how much the entire Tesla market cap is. How is Uber not profitable even without the vast capital expenditures on FSD cars is beyond me.
If I had any spare cash left I would still buy more TSLA, even though the ride while holding the stock for the past 4+ years has been scary, especially given that the rest of the market increased substantially.
The last a few dips I bought TSLA on margin (time will tell).
When I bought my second Tesla 10 months ago I though it would have been a better investment to buy more stock -- thank go I bought the car instead (although it also took a little depreciation bath, but not as much as the stock would have).
I am wandering how everyone else is holding up mentally with the long TSLA positions.

 

[Cheburashka]

Just an app hahahhahahah

Uber is SaaS.

SaaS can be far more profitable and is inherently mote nimble than making hardware.

 

[neroden]

Uber has nothing. No moat, no brand value, a lot of liabilities from criminal activity. I mean, for starters, Lyft has everything Uber has except Lyft has a better reputation and fewer criminal prosecutions. The app is completely cloneable, and apart from Lyft, has been cloned for better local taxi services in many locations. Uber's also been forced out of China and banned from London.

Beyond that, neither Lyft nor Uber have found business models. They're cash incinerators. Basically they're undercutting taxis on price by underpaying drivers, which has been tried before, and just leads to bankruptcy. But maybe Lyft will find a business model. Uber certainly won't; its corporate culture prevents it.

 

[sweter]

Uber's also been forced out of China and banned from London.

Uber's just fine in London. Took it the other week. They are indeed on a "temporary extended licence" until the end of the year (I think), but they're probably gonna get another extension easily.

 

[electracity]

It's not a coincidence that Musk went full psycho on autopilot around the time of Uber's IPO.

Just like it is not a coincidence that Musk got really interested in trucks as Rivian gained attention.

I don't get the value in Uber. I assume Uber went public now for fear of a bear market.

 

[strider]

Beyond that, neither Lyft nor Uber have found business models. They're cash incinerators. Basically they're undercutting taxis on price by underpaying drivers, which has been tried before, and just leads to bankruptcy. But maybe Lyft will find a business model. Uber certainly won't; its corporate culture prevents it.

To be fair, Tesla is a cash incinerator too. But at least they're building real products that if they were to be denied continued credit at some point, another company would buy them and continue. When Uber gets locked out of the credit markets, who will buy them? Someone can just start a new version and the drivers just have to download a new app.

Not to mention, if/when Uber ditches drivers for FSD cars, their financials get WORSE. Right now, Uber doesn't pay a dime for idle vehicles. The drivers eat that. When Uber owns the cars they still have to pay to operate those cars even when they're not used.

 

[bhtooefr]

Not to mention, if/when Uber ditches drivers for FSD cars, their financials get WORSE. Right now, Uber doesn't pay a dime for idle vehicles. The drivers eat that. When Uber owns the cars they still have to pay to operate those cars even when they're not used.

There are ways that I could see for Uber and Lyft to deal with that issue, using an already existing part of their business models. (Note that I don't think this'll work, but they could try it. I am quite bearish on both Uber and Lyft, and hold put positions against both.)

Right now, both have car rental programs, and Lyft IIRC still has lease programs.

With a car rental program, the fleet costs are offloaded onto the rental companies. (However, if Uber and Lyft get their vision of transportation, the rental companies will likely become non-viable, so that won't work.) With a lease program, the fleet costs are offloaded onto those who lease a car and get primary access to that car (note that this is a component of the Tesla Network model, too).

If their FSD technologies are good enough (note that I'm extremely skeptical about even Tesla successfully implementing FSD outside of restricted environments like freeways, and I fully believe that Tesla is far in the lead, but let's go with this), it's even possible for leasing and purchases for exclusive use to become a significant revenue stream for them, for those that insist on having their own car without other people riding in it.

Mind you, I don't think any of this will happen, hence holding puts on Uber and Lyft, but hey.

It's also interesting to note that, in a different part of the "shared mobility" sector, Bird is playing with exclusive use monthly rental and purchase...