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Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

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Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#131
post #37
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $50B Market Cap, Tesla should be delivering at least $2B Annual profits. It's clear Tesla has run through higher margin demand. There aren't many people in the world who can afford a $50,000 car. Tesla is a niche market car, but priced as a mass market (like iPhones) product. Expect Tesla's sustainable profit to be around $500 Mil per year and it's share price must be cut in half to justify that

> At $50B Market Cap, Tesla should be delivering at least $2B Annual profits. LOL what? Show me another company with $50B market cap growing at 50% a year on the top line to deliver $2B in profits. I'll wait.

Please don't post in the flamewar style to Hacker News. It degrades discussion, regardless of how right you are. Your comment would be fine with just the middle sentence.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This narrative doesn't resonate with me. Forward looking statements are speculative, especially when you're innovating new technologies. I personally trust Elon Musk and I am a large investor. I don't expect him to hit all his targets, but I trust him to only raise money on the heels of good news.

Characterizing lying to the SEC and calling a Thai cave rescuer a "pedo" as such is stretching the definition of "forward-looking statement." Musk has always been largely bluster, but now the bluster is hurting people, and his companies as well. He's the biggest liability Tesla has. I don't know what he's done to earn my trust, or any investor's.

You didn't happen to have a short position on Tesla when the infamous 420 tweet happened?

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#133
post #22
post #4

The production and delivery numbers they came out with were very good and higher than most had expected. These numbers will allow them another profitable Q4 likely higher than their Q3 numbers. The price cuts are likely to impact margins, but is in line with what Tesla had done with the Model S and X as production efficiencies allow them to reduce manufacturing costs. The reaction looks like a big overreaction as the…

At $50B Market Cap, Tesla should be delivering at least $2B Annual profits. It's clear Tesla has run through higher margin demand. There aren't many people in the world who can afford a $50,000 car. Tesla is a niche market car, but priced as a mass market (like iPhones) product. Expect Tesla's sustainable profit to be around $500 Mil per year and it's share price must be cut in half to justify that

As deliveries are to the US and Canada only at the moment, at worst they have cut through the higher margin demand of those two countries. Deliveries to other contries are going to start in Q1 of course with the highgest margin cars. And of course, while demand for the high margin versions might drop somewhat in the US there is no reason to assume it was completely addressed in just two quarters. This was just the demand by people who could afford to buy their car in that time frame. But that is only a fraction of the possible customer base - most people buy a new car when their old one breaks down, they have the money ready or the lease of their current car runs out. So it is not clear to me that the demand for the high end configurations is going to drop significantly at all.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#134
post #119
post #112

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> "The production and delivery numbers they came out with were very good and higher than most had expected." Every Model 3 they are producing is relatively expensive and already has a buyer. What happens when they get to the end of the list of relatively well off buyers? Certainly there will still be demand, but it will be less profitable.

What are you comparing it to when you say "relatively expensive"? I've read reviews comparing it favorably to a BMW 3 Series, which is in the same price range.

The Model S was in the same price range as the BMW 3 Series but only when you take into account the tax credit which just expired. Without that tax credit there's a difference of over $7k. That's part of the reason why Tesla is dropping their prices a bit now.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know what he's done to earn my trust, or any investor's. The ~20x ROI since IPO has made many people trust him. Tesla itself is a marvelous success, with no established car maker able to match them yet. It is far more likely that your personal dislike of him is making you see a distorted reality.

> It is far more likely that your personal dislike of him is making you see a distorted reality. Certainly possible. I personally think he's acting like a buffoon and I haven't been shy about stating it. However, as I told another commenter in this thread, I think the relatively objective argument is that while Musk was necessary initially to get Tesla into existence and functioning, he's now more of a liability than…

> I think the relatively objective argument is that while Musk was necessary initially to get Tesla into existence and functioning

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpennin initially got Tesla into existence.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#136
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of how you feel about smoking pot the CEO of a publicly traded company is expected to be prudent enough to avoid doing things that are federally illegal on camera with the beforehand knowledge that the footage will be made public. I personally don't care what Elon, or anyone does in his spare time but smoking pot on TV (or podcast, basically the same thing since both are going to be broadcast to viewers) s…

The Joe Rogan podcast is on national TV now? I thought the whole point of it was that it wasn’t a network show.

> The Joe Rogan podcast is on national TV now?

The part of it in discussion was, because of its content.

Everything that is recorded and available outside of a narrowly controlled group is effectively national TV, in that if you do something that would be newsworthy, that's where it's going to end up.

Anyone in a PR-sensitive role, including any CEO, ought to be aware of that.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly my point. US demand growth is done. There will be International pent up demand will be done in Q1. Q2 and Q3 will show that Tesla has pretty much plateaued. Profit growth is even lower

Companies can grow in a shrinking market by stealing share. I’m no Tesla bull, but you’re casting a loose prediction with far more certainty than it merits.

It is a concern though, and as a Tesla supporter I’m a little worried. Tesla is also going to be looking at serious and sustained competition from giants like VW, so if they want to steal market share they’d better do it fast. I accept the argument that such competition is a good outcome for the planet, but I’m not so sure it’s a good outcome for Tesla the company.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This narrative doesn't resonate with me. Forward looking statements are speculative, especially when you're innovating new technologies. I personally trust Elon Musk and I am a large investor. I don't expect him to hit all his targets, but I trust him to only raise money on the heels of good news.

Characterizing lying to the SEC and calling a Thai cave rescuer a "pedo" as such is stretching the definition of "forward-looking statement." Musk has always been largely bluster, but now the bluster is hurting people, and his companies as well. He's the biggest liability Tesla has. I don't know what he's done to earn my trust, or any investor's.

Elon has not lied to the SEC. Please provide link or other evidence. He settled a claim that he manipulated the stock without admitting guilt, in order to avoid damaging the company, but that is completely different.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Characterizing lying to the SEC and calling a Thai cave rescuer a "pedo" as such is stretching the definition of "forward-looking statement." Musk has always been largely bluster, but now the bluster is hurting people, and his companies as well. He's the biggest liability Tesla has. I don't know what he's done to earn my trust, or any investor's.

If bluster results in the first truly desirable EV cars and the first autonomous reusable rocket then more bluster please. The rage machine against Elon here is preposterous. At the end of the day , is he making the world a better place ?. No amount of contrived answers involving Twitter can change the vehement "Yes" to that question.

Tesla is one of many companies making mass market electric cars. Piling on luxury touches isn't making the world a better place. Tesla's $35K car (when if ever shows shows up) isn't better than anyone else's. He's just coming down from higher price points on fancier cars while others are improving at the same price point.

Re: Tesla cuts prices as Model 3 deliveries narrowly miss estimates

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't go charge a car to a dealership though. I charged mine yesterday in the parking structure next to the mall in Colma while getting ice cream with my son. Sorry but no, that's not a valid suggestion.

I'm assuming most electric car owners would charge their cars at home and make use of Superchargers/dealership chargers on road trips. Being able to charge at your local shopping center is nice but it's not a necessity for electric car ownership.

I think you're underestimating the proportion of potential EV owners in situations which preclude charging at home.
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