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Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

reuters.com

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Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#161

Post by inimino »

komali2 wrote: post #104
ams6110 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have anything against Musk. I simply don't care much one way or the other because the things he's working on will never affect me. Electric cars are not something I'm interested in owning at the price Tesla is asking. Or even half what Tesla is asking. Utility electricity works fine for me, is a small fraction of my monthly budget, and is reliable. I.e. something I never really worry about. Payments for and m…

With all due respect, that is the standpoint of a cynic or perhaps nihilist. Which is totally fine, people should have the right to not care about stuff without being judged for it. However, if everyone was a perfect nihilist, you wouldn't have cheap old cars to drive because nobody would have made cars. You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program. And so on. So whil…

> cynic or perhaps nihilist

Nonsense. It is a perfectly reasonable perspective for someone who isn't terribly interested in technological development and wants to live practically with what exists today. There's a place for dreaming about Mars, but most people don't. That's fine, and it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with cynicism or nihilism.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#162

Post by nandemo »

komali2 wrote: post #104
ams6110 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have anything against Musk. I simply don't care much one way or the other because the things he's working on will never affect me. Electric cars are not something I'm interested in owning at the price Tesla is asking. Or even half what Tesla is asking. Utility electricity works fine for me, is a small fraction of my monthly budget, and is reliable. I.e. something I never really worry about. Payments for and m…

With all due respect, that is the standpoint of a cynic or perhaps nihilist. Which is totally fine, people should have the right to not care about stuff without being judged for it. However, if everyone was a perfect nihilist, you wouldn't have cheap old cars to drive because nobody would have made cars. You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program. And so on. So whil…

> You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program.

Is that so? Can you give me a source?

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#163

Post by abhorrence »

azernik wrote: post #160
usaphp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I also happen to know a lot of the people who bought a heavily discounted Tesla in Q3 feel kind of burned that right at the beginning of Q4 Tesla announced the new Autopilot hardware (that isn't retrotfitable on old vehicles). " Wow I guess this is the best proof of how Tesla is really changing the way auto owners think, this is something that wasn't unthinkable before Tesla and their over the air updates. Can you…

It's actually a very Apple strategy - discount the old iPhone, the fans realize a new one is in the pipeline but nothing's announced, and then the new one is finally released.

But the iPhone is predictably released each year, so I'm not sure this is really the same.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#164

Post by ghaff »

ceterum_censeo wrote: post #142
mikeash wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question! I went poking around and turned up this article: http://seekingalpha.com/amp/article/3988503-gaaps-treatment-... If I understand it correctly (probability: moderate?) then it's basically an accounting artifact. The fact that Tesla arranges the lease means they have to book the revenue differently. Somehow....

Nice find, that helps. My reading is that it's slightly more than an artifact: Tesla is guaranteeing a residual, so the sale to the bank is conditional and so cannot be recorded as a simple sale. GAAP strikes me as a set of things that, alone, are good intentions but combined are more confusing than they need to be.

>GAAP strikes me as a set of things that, alone, are good intentions but combined are more confusing than they need to be.

That's probably reasonably accurate. GAAP is intended to prevent various accounting reporting practices that, historically, were sometimes used to obscure material aspects of a company's financial position. However, GAAP numbers may also present a company's numbers in ways that aren't the most meaningful or "fair"--at least in the eyes of the company. That's one reason that companies often present both GAAP and non-GAAP results.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#165

Post by zitterbewegung »

spectrum1234 wrote: post #151
ams6110 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have anything against Musk. I simply don't care much one way or the other because the things he's working on will never affect me. Electric cars are not something I'm interested in owning at the price Tesla is asking. Or even half what Tesla is asking. Utility electricity works fine for me, is a small fraction of my monthly budget, and is reliable. I.e. something I never really worry about. Payments for and m…

Model 3 is going to cost $35k, and like $28k after incentives. It will SAVE about $1500/year on gas and $500 on maintenance. This is cheaper than a Honda Civic. Are you sure you aren't interested at this price?

Are you sure about maintenance? Consumer Reports has all of the currently released cars at below average reliability.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#166

Post by ghaff »

spectrum1234 wrote: post #151
ams6110 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have anything against Musk. I simply don't care much one way or the other because the things he's working on will never affect me. Electric cars are not something I'm interested in owning at the price Tesla is asking. Or even half what Tesla is asking. Utility electricity works fine for me, is a small fraction of my monthly budget, and is reliable. I.e. something I never really worry about. Payments for and m…

Model 3 is going to cost $35k, and like $28k after incentives. It will SAVE about $1500/year on gas and $500 on maintenance. This is cheaper than a Honda Civic. Are you sure you aren't interested at this price?

Really? I have a 20 year old Honda del Sol--which is essentially a 2-seater Civic variant--on which I spend under $500/yr on gas and under $500/year on maintenance. That's not typical I'm sure--and I do have another vehicle--but you can't claim your numbers as general savings.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#167

Post by ghaff »

annerajb wrote: post #153
ghaff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I believe. As such it will be on the balance sheet but generally deferred revenue shouldn't have an impact on the income statement given accrual accounting. It will be recognized as revenue as the product is delivered. (It will affect the cash flow statement as well, of course.)

There is a section that says customer deposits. I thought that's where the Model 3 Deposits and pending order deposits went.

Looks like it. So a deposit is received and it's recorded as cash (an asset) and customer deposits (a liability) on the balance sheet. And it doesn't affect the income statement. [ADDED: So customer deposits just a more specific name for revenue that can't be recognized as such yet.]

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#168

Post by aidenn0 »

mitchellh wrote: post #23

Really great news! But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the discounts they gave in Q3 to push deliveries up. First, those that know me know that I am a Tesla FANATIC. My girlfriend once challenged me to not talk about Tesla (motors, energy, something) for a 24 hour period. I dunno if I've ever done that honestly. I'm also an owner (no surprise given my fanaticism, lucky to be able to afford one). And I also…

You're telling me I could have gotten a steep discount on an S in Q3? How big a discount are you talking about; I've avoided test-driving one because I don't want to drop that much cash on a car.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#169

Post by lkbm »

nandemo wrote: post #162
komali2 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, that is the standpoint of a cynic or perhaps nihilist. Which is totally fine, people should have the right to not care about stuff without being judged for it. However, if everyone was a perfect nihilist, you wouldn't have cheap old cars to drive because nobody would have made cars. You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program. And so on. So whil…

> You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program. Is that so? Can you give me a source?

The integrated circuit came out of Apollo[1], and apparently the cellphone camera came from NASA's work[2]. Not sure about the rest. We wouldn't have GPS, obviously.

You can credit a lot of stuff to the space program if you want, since all tech is built on other tech, and NASA was a big source of R&D in the 1950s onward.

[1] https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/apollo-ic.html [2] http://www.space.com/10635-space-spinoff-technology-cellphon...

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#170

Post by greglindahl »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #165
spectrum1234 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Model 3 is going to cost $35k, and like $28k after incentives. It will SAVE about $1500/year on gas and $500 on maintenance. This is cheaper than a Honda Civic. Are you sure you aren't interested at this price?

Are you sure about maintenance? Consumer Reports has all of the currently released cars at below average reliability.

Consumer Reports now says Model S is average for reliability -- that's the good news that the LA Times buried in their article.
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