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Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

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Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#101

Post by dkrich »

Cerium wrote: post #45
jonknee wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They changed their name because they bought Elon's solar company (which was also not a tech company).

I'm curious about what you would consider a tech company. For me a tech company is any company that uses the development of technology as a competitive advantage. Solar is not, major solar companies are not developing innovative technology. Tesla is, they do not have an advantage in scale or low prices, but have advantage in how their vehicles function.

For me a tech company is any company that uses the development of technology as a competitive advantage.

So then is Ford a tech company? If not, then I'd be interested to hear why not, based on that criteria. Their cars are technology and they continuously develop and improve them as a competitive advantage.

I think people think of Tesla as a tech company because the founder is Elon Musk. If Tesla were a spin-off brand of GM or Ford, it would be another car company.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#102

Post by dkrich »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #9
jpeg_hero wrote: post #2

Tesla shorts can't get a break. First a smooth $1B+ capital raise without a stock hiccup and now this.

Is anyone actually short Tesla to a significant degree? I can understand the normal hedging positions and daily trading, but shorting a stock with so much positive sentiment is folly...

Isn't the time to short a stock when there is too much positive sentiment? I would never short stocks because I don't believe in timing the market, but if I were to, I wouldn't seek out stocks with overall negative sentiment as those would seem to have the most upside.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#104

Post by chc »

timr wrote: post #84
greglindahl wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having a hard time connecting the facts with the discussion. Are you saying that GM should have made a crossover instead of the Volt/Bolt? Are you saying that Tesla doesn't have a crossover?

"I'm having a hard time connecting the facts with the discussion. Are you saying that GM should have made a crossover instead of the Volt/Bolt? Are you saying that Tesla doesn't have a crossover?" GM already has a crossover line. In fact, it has a bunch, and they sell really well : http://www.gmfleet.com/vehicle-search/by-body-style/suvs-cro... Point out Tesla's crossover SUV with the range of a gasoline vehicle and…

> Point out Tesla's crossover SUV with the range of a gasoline vehicle and the price point of a Chevy Equinox ($25k). I'll wait.

Whoa — you have to realize what you just did there, right? This is a massive shifting of the goalposts from what you said Tesla's problem was earlier, which is that SUVs and light trucks are what sells.

Anyway, I don't think most people with SUVs actually go through a full tank of gas a day, so having completely equal range doesn't seem like that big an issue. So now it sounds like Tesla's major problem is that they're competing with the Range Rover rather than the Equinox.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#105

Post by ctdonath »

jowiar wrote: post #61
ctdonath wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing the company's core competency is very important. Stray from that, bad things happen. Is Tesla an electric car company? or an electric supply chain company? or what? If EV manufacturing, then focus on the car construction & experience, doing what's needed to power the thing (battery production, home solar services) but realize those can/should be ejected when better solutions arise. If a "tech" company, then w…

Interesting sidenote -- after reading the keyboard.io adventures-in-manufacturing emails, what really jumps out at me are the extent to which Apple's true brilliance these days is on the manufacturing/supply chain end of things.

While my wife was getting her MBA, she one day turned to me and without context asked "what do you think of supply chain management?" Having no idea what she was talking about, I instantly retorted "I think it is evil and should be banned."

Now that I know what she was talking about, I'm deeply impressed by Apple's mastery of the subject, and see why Tim Cook is running the place.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#107

Post by radix07 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #74
Robotbeat wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. A pickup based on the Volt technology would be fantastic. Electric can allow crazy good torque. And you have a nice big battery, backed by a quiet and efficient built-in generator that only needs to run occasionally, to run power tools off of.

I'm a small minority market, but I'd love an electric replacement for my 30hp diesel small compact utility tractor. It's a natural fit. The extra weight is a positive not a negative. The tractor is already a hydrostatic transmission in order to get continuous torque across RPMs and some in this market already use an electric motor for hydraulics (powered from a generator via the engine). It's only used for short burs…

It is coming soon! Here is a Hybrid ZTR prototype my company has been working on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34KU9OG9M8

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#108

Post by reverend_gonzo »

Afforess wrote: post #23
jpeg_hero wrote: post #2

Tesla shorts can't get a break. First a smooth $1B+ capital raise without a stock hiccup and now this.

This is why you should purchase put options instead of short selling. Exposure to short selling is theoretically infinite. Exposure to put options is just the price you paid for the option. Shorting generally should only be for companies whose solvency is in doubt.

This is wrong. You should not be trading options if you only have a directional view of a stock, as you will get eaten alive. Options pricing involves much more than just the underlying stock. Most importantly, as another poster said, there is implied volatility. There is also time risk and interest rate risk priced into the option.

With options, you could be right on direction, and still lose money.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#109

Post by michel-slm »

Robotbeat wrote: post #46
spyspy wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when they seriously start releasing electric vehicles They've been "serious" for a long time. Chevy has been selling the Volt since 2010. If they were going to muscle out Tesla they would have done it by now. And it's not just about technology. Tesla has the customer reputation that companies like GM will never have again.

I own a Volt. Best car I've ever driven. GM doesn't care much for it. The only advertising they really do for it basically is trying to steal EV customers from Nissan's Leaf. Really dumb. And the dealers don't like it because 1) they don't know how to service them and especially 2) they almost never need servicing. If you run almost exclusively on electric, you only need like 4-5 oil changes in the entire life of the…

I'm on a work visa here in the US, and I couldn't get financing on a Volt because GM Financial insisted on doing > 30 months lease on their hybrid cars (and my work visa expires before then, though it's likely to be renewed anyway).

Go figure. It's not like I can't afford the monthly payments.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#110

Post by laurent123456 »

spyspy wrote: post #41
laurent123456 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't short the stock but I can understand why someone would. They are expected to generate over 90% of their value after 2020 [0]. There's the expectation that Elon Musk will definitely deliver, that Tesla market share will not be eaten up by other carmakers when they seriously start releasing electric vehicles. The expectation that electric and not another form of energy, such as hydrogen, will dominate, etc. Th…

> when they seriously start releasing electric vehicles They've been "serious" for a long time. Chevy has been selling the Volt since 2010. If they were going to muscle out Tesla they would have done it by now. And it's not just about technology. Tesla has the customer reputation that companies like GM will never have again.

> Tesla has the customer reputation that companies like GM will never have again.

Tesla is more like a luxury brand so its biggest potential competitors will be the big 3 in Germany and possibly Lexus (which all have a pretty good reputation), and currently none of them propose that many options.

Audi and Lexus have none. BMW has two, but only one of them can sort of compete with Tesla (can't go far with the i5 battery). Mercedes only has one (if I'm not mistaken). It really feels like they're only getting started, and if/when they start releasing really compelling models, it will be something more to deal with for Tesla.

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