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Q2 2020 Update

ir.tesla.com

131–140 of 302 posts

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#131

TSLA in some ways reminds me of Amazon at the beginning. Way overpriced, but kept reinvesting into new things as it went and the stock price kept going up and profits stayed zero forever while the company kept building itself bigger and bigger. So I can see the bull perspective. However... Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin and Tesla's only edge is in battery tec…

is it battery tech only ?

I heard they were using non traditional electric motors too (switched reluctance ?)

Also note that 'only battery tech' may become extremely important in the post fossil fuel world.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#132
I remember Elon at one time claiming that model y demand will outstrip model 3, x, and s combined. It’s getting harder and harder to believe his claims

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#133

The difference in the narrative versus the financial data is stark: Quarterly revenue has not shown any growth for nearly 2 years, despite introducing more models and expanding global deliveries. Their sales of regulatory credits this year is greater than all of the net income ever earned in their entire history.

> Quarterly revenue has not shown any growth for nearly 2 years

Revenue is actually down 4% year over year. I'd say a lot of this is because their Model S/X sales were down 56% from the same quarter last year. Huge reduction in high end vehicle sales was essentially replaced with the sale of regulatory credits (8000 cars at 60,000 each is 480million, regulatory credit sales were up 317 million). Free cash flow was +418 million. Even without the regulatory credits, they would've had positive cash flow during a quarter where their factory was closed for a significant chunk of time.

I actually take this as a good sign - it shows that they can be profitable without counting on high margin model S/X.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#134
Purely anecdotal but we are in the market for a new car when our current lease runs out. We were looking at Tesla and the quality is not there and dealerships means we can’t test etc. The valuation is crazy, VW can literally flip the switch and start producing more e-Golfs etc when the demand is there.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#135

TSLA in some ways reminds me of Amazon at the beginning. Way overpriced, but kept reinvesting into new things as it went and the stock price kept going up and profits stayed zero forever while the company kept building itself bigger and bigger. So I can see the bull perspective. However... Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin and Tesla's only edge is in battery tec…

> Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin

Margins in retail shopping used to be consistently very thin, that's not generally the case with cars (think Ferrari...).

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#136
Why is “making most of your money from interest” better than “making most of your money from credits”?

If you asked me what’s more likely, for interest rates (to customers) to fall or for emission credits to stop, I know where I’d put my bets

Edit: It’s an actual question, not just rethorical

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#137
post #100
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are added to S&P 500, does that mean that a bunch of index tracking funds buying it all at once? I would assume that's already been priced in, if so.

It does, but the rebalancing occurs in September I think.

A company can issue new shares for the index funds instead of requiring those to buy the shares on the market. Otherwise, with the low free float, such demand would move the price higher.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Tesla is a good investment because they get paid by other automakers to make cars they don’t want to make right now? This doesn’t seem like a good long term strategy.

My Tesla stock with a $17/share cost basis says otherwise. Take the the other side of the bet and short it if you doubt the long term value. The world isn’t going to suddenly stop supporting climate change mitigation through policy. It’s only going to ramp up, leaving legacy Orgs in the dust.

Your good investment from years ago does not make Tesla a good investment at today's price.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#139

TSLA in some ways reminds me of Amazon at the beginning. Way overpriced, but kept reinvesting into new things as it went and the stock price kept going up and profits stayed zero forever while the company kept building itself bigger and bigger. So I can see the bull perspective. However... Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin and Tesla's only edge is in battery tec…

> Tesla's only edge is in battery tech and being a status symbol.

You might want to do some research into Tesla if that's all you think they have going for them.

Their software, energy generation, and charging infrastructure are also setting them way apart from everyone.

Re: Q2 2020 Update

#140

Purely anecdotal but we are in the market for a new car when our current lease runs out. We were looking at Tesla and the quality is not there and dealerships means we can’t test etc. The valuation is crazy, VW can literally flip the switch and start producing more e-Golfs etc when the demand is there.

But can VW produce batteries at the scale of Tesla?

I doubt it.

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