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Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

bloomberg.com

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Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#14
post #8
post #5

I was on this call. It was extremely cringey/embarrassing to hear Elon dismiss valid questions. At the same time, it was fantastic to see a young, smart, retail investor (Gali from Hyperchange) get to ask so many questions directly to the leadership team. I thought before the call that Gali would get to ask only one question, like the other analysts. He was able to ask almost 10! It was surreal. I was left feeling th…

Letting one person ask 10 questions means less time for other investors to ask their own individual questions.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#17
post #13

Felt very reminiscent to Skilling's infamous earnings call. I'd have to imagine any TSLA investors are very concerned after that performance.

I’m not too worried. The earnings themselves were better than expected. Elon said this in a tweet but its reiterated in the earnings - projecting positive cash flow in Q3 and Q4.

And such dismissive behavior (as much as I am not a fan of it) is not uncommon among stressed-out CEOs - Jobs, Gates..

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#18
post #5

I was on this call. It was extremely cringey/embarrassing to hear Elon dismiss valid questions. At the same time, it was fantastic to see a young, smart, retail investor (Gali from Hyperchange) get to ask so many questions directly to the leadership team. I thought before the call that Gali would get to ask only one question, like the other analysts. He was able to ask almost 10! It was surreal. I was left feeling th…

"Sacconaghi pressed ahead with another query about Tesla lowering its 2018 capital expenditure projection to $3 billion, from $3.4 billion. Ahuja said the carmaker would spend less by simplifying its approach to automation and curtailing infrastructure outlays.

'And so where specifically will you be in terms of capital requirements?' Sacconaghi said.

'Excuse me. Next. Next,' Musk said to the call operator. 'Boring, bonehead questions are not cool. Next?'"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/elon-musk...

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#19
post #12

This is apparently a common practice, although rarely this blatant. Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2479542 Paper finds that "firms that 'cast' their conference calls by disproportionately calling on bullish analysts tend to underperform in the future."

Haven't read the paper, but isn't the causality the other way around? As in, troubled companies call on bullish analysts to try to keep up good appearances, but then underperform anyway because of their problems?

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#20
Musk sounded exhausted.

If Smith & Wesson launched a consumer flamethrower there would be outrage...Musk has been able to distract with lots of shiny objects but the clock is ticking, even amongst his niche fan base...I hope all the people who are working so hard in Musk's various companies come out of this ok...

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