Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Krugerrand]

If we don't squabble over every few billion, whatever will we talk about?


Demand??

Either one makes me richer, so I guess I don’t care now. Squabble away.

 

[Chunky Jr.]

It's amazing that TSLA is down 2% and still over 1000. If you asked me a year ago, I would have guessed 2022 for when it would hit 1000

 

[Intl Professor]

Mnuchin on CNBC trying to blame economic disruption on BLM "riots and looting". What a tremendous piece of garbage.

How do you start out at Yale, move on to Goldman, and then end up as just a scumbag foreclosure and payday loan specialist?

Hollywood.

 

[dc_h]

Who lost 13bn? Shorting tsla?

The guy got the right idea, but you can tell it's his first time shorting and he got greedy. Tsla was pretty down during the pandemic. And he wanted that extra $300 after the stock is already down by 50%. The profit window for shorting is very narrow as downsode moves are usually more pronounced and faster.

Could the 16 billion Tesla short total include significant longs with hedges? We've seen some strong-long bulls on this site occasionally buy puts to hedge concerns after big runs up. Not a concern really, it seems likely some shorts must be being forced out of positions over the last few weeks, which has probably accelerated the ride up. Any more good news, more remaining shorts will be forced out again. They seem like martyrs though, every fallen short seems to inspire 2 new shorts.

Noteworthy, in spite of the huge number, the interesting facet is that this is only 10% of the stock, where 16 billion last year would have been the entire float.

 

[Mo City]

So far today the auto industry is getting absolutely pummeled while TSLA is down <2%.

I don't know if that can hold.

 

[Huskyf]

It's amazing that TSLA is down 2% and still over 1000. If you asked me a year ago, I would have guessed 2022 for when it would hit 1000

More strange all carmakers are on the red BUT not NKLA$ +1.90%

 

[Krugerrand]

I disagree. Once you can show truckers and trucking companies benefits, either economic or time saving*, they jump on it fast. Examples: switch to radial tires and remote mechanical and driver monitoring. (Naturally they are resistant to change if you can't show them benefits.)

*Example: Before radial tires, truck drivers that drove on unpaved roads (gravel trucks, logging trucks, etc.) spent the evenings repairing flats. Two or three flats per day was pretty common. After radial tires, flats became almost a non-existent. Before radial tires, tire fires on highway trucks were also common. Now they are very rare.

I agree. Money/savings talk to this group. Besides fuel savings, which will be enough on their own and not mouse nuts, there was the mention of numerous cracked windshields over the life of the vehicle that would be addressed by Tesla glass - as long as Franz ‘The Incredible Hulk’ isn’t throwing steel balls off of overpasses. That can save thousands.

Then there’s just all the other engine/tranny/brakes etc... that aren’t going to require maintenance and repair.

Tesla semis will pay for themselves much quicker.

Then we have TACC and AP advantages. For those of us that have driven their Tesla’s on long road trips, we know how these features reduce stress and exhaustion by significant amounts. Truckers will find they don’t tire the same way. In fact, I can envision changes (more) to drivable hours. Imagine as a trucker no longer having to keep logs but instead the vehicle doing it for you. Quicker inspection turn around times. I can even envision the eventual discontinuation/at least a dramatic change to check point stops with automatic cargo weighing by the vehicle etc...

Many people think too small and are unable to imagine significant change.

And none of this even considers FSD and platooning.

 

[dc_h]

2^10th is still in range for Friday close.

 

[StealthP3D]

He's speaking the language of TSLAQ. I wonder if the TSLAQ community is buying. Imagine the awesome pair trade: long NKLA, short TSLA. Are the dum-dums dumb enough?

TSLAQ:

 

[JohnSnowNW]

On the other hand remember that a Foul Cell is nothing but a battery electric vehicle that has a fuel cell in it to charge the batteries. That means Nikola can use the fuel cell to make up for their lack in battery expertise until such time batteries and megachargers become more available then just drop the fuel cell part. They just have to convince the trucking industry that there is no way to install a megacharger at their facilities and instead they should install tanks to hold hydrogen that will slowing bleed off thru the tank walls.

The issue is that they don't have expertise in fuel cells. What they actually have to convince everyone is that only Nikola can drop in off-the-shelf parts into a truck.

I'm not quite sure how they expect to be able to do that.

 

[Drax7]

Law suits with Tesla was a brilliant marketing move. I didn't even know their company exist before that lawsuit. It was a good way to show the world that they have some secret sauce that even Tesla is infringing on their ip. Probably fake news but brilliant. It is one of the reasons why people FOmo so hard thinking they are the next Tesla.

The guy is a sales man, that's why there's more bark than bite to the company.

The name itself, Nikola, makes him a pump and dump con.

 

[MP3Mike]

Could the 16 billion Tesla short total include significant longs with hedges? We've seen some strong-long bulls on this site occasionally buy puts to hedge concerns after big runs up.

My understanding is that Ihor's numbers only include shares actually sold short. So losses from worthless puts are not included in that $16B figure.

 

[Intl Professor]

I didn't mean there weren't any, but generally speaking the more money, power, and influence you have, the less likely you are to care about ethics. The top universities have a larger percentage of monied individuals.

As a student leader at MIT in the late fifties, my cohorts and I complained to acting president Jay Stratton about the tuition increase from $900 to $1,100. "What about Mr. Sloan," we asked, "Harvard hasn't raised its." (Alfred P. Sloan, MIT 1895, made the modern GM.)

"Harvard has many Mr. Sloans," he replied.

 

[Krugerrand]

I'm not sure - I've met a lot of people from those top universities that are very good, ethical people too. There's good/bad/ugly wherever you go. The top universities just amplify that capability based on having a network...similar to money with werewithall, IMO.

I think a lot of those young graduates start that way, but real life and money smacks them upside the head pretty quick.

It takes A LOT of fortitude to stand by one’s convictions, ethics and morals when a big chunk of money is being dangled in front of the face of someone who has a huge student loan, been eating Ramen for a few years, has one sort of nice outfit that’s 10 years old, and minimum life experience. Better, more experienced people fail at it all the time. People want the cookie NOW.

 

[Unpilot]

I think a lot of those young graduates start that way, but real life and money smacks them upside the head pretty quick.

It takes A LOT of fortitude to stand by one’s convictions, ethics and morals when a big chunk of money is being dangled in front of the face of someone who has a huge student loan, been eating Ramen for a few years, has one sort of nice outfit that’s 10 years old, and minimum life experience. Better, more experienced people fail at it all the time. People want the cookie NOW.

Or the island

 

[Krugerrand]

This is all the proof I need (how the top executives spend their time). Because if they were serious about making this work, they would realize just how much there is to do.

Right?! When his desk is in the middle of the factory floor and he’s working side by side with the lowly assembly worker, is the day he can be taken seriously.

 

[CorneliusXX]

If your aim to get rich off of a pump and dump scheme, sure.

But I'd rather build a $100M company that's valued as a $100M company, than a $30M company that's valued as a $30B company and will eventually come crashing down.

I think Trevor is detached from reality. He seems pretty delusional about the state of things. I think he truly believes the things he says.

I think he's a hustler (both meanings) who wants to be a founder and will do anything to get big. If he ends up with a useful product that's a bonus.

There's a reason he's been cashing out and buying up diversified assets.

 

[StealthP3D]

Right?! When his desk is in the middle of the factory floor and he’s working side by side with the lowly assembly worker, is the day he can be taken seriously.

Be careful, I think that photo-op is probably on his to-do list...

 

[BOBTHEJOCKEY]

After Hours.

But don’t feel bad about acronyms.

Acronyms Seriously Suck - Elon Musk

This is wonderful. I know now that I am not the only one that wastes too much time trying to figure out acronyms. I am looking forward to the the day that I will be able to read The Economist and Bloomberg without using a pen to find the meaning of all the stupid assed code.

 

[Sudre]

Every time I look at the TSLA chart today I hear a horse race announcer in the back of my mind calling the moves around the $1000 point. I can't make up my mind on which horse is going to take the win today. The options volume is saying under $1000 for Friday at the moment. It is really hard reading these tea leaves today. I think they are buying back the higher PUTs.