Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Thursday May 03 2018, @08:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the Don't-you-worry-about-blank.-Let-me-worry-about-blank dept.

Tesla's stock dropped despite "better than expected" quarterly numbers, probably due to either the company posting its worst quarterly loss ever, or a conference call in which Elon Musk complained about "boring, bonehead questions" and much more:

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk held a long, odd earnings conference call Wednesday in which he insulted analysts, the media, federal regulators and people who died behind the wheel of his cars, and then told anyone concerned about volatility not to invest in his company. Unsurprisingly, volatility ensued, as Tesla shares dropped quickly during an increasingly bizarre call with the very analysts and media whom Musk attacked.

Tesla on Wednesday disclosed the largest quarterly loss in the history of a company known far and wide for losing vast sums of money, with a net loss of almost $785 million. The numbers still managed to beat expectations that have been repeatedly lowered for more than a year, which led Musk to take a victory lap on Twitter after losing more than three quarters of a billion dollars in three months.

It only got weirder from there. In his conference-call introduction, Musk confused per-week and per-day production figures, described a "super complicated" robot Tesla designed and built before realizing it could not perform its unnecessary function, then mentioned offhandedly that he planned to restructure the company this month — a disclosure he never revisited to provide more information.

When the question-and-answer session started, Musk turned vitriolic, and not even his fellow executives were safe. After Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja referred to Tesla as "best in class" for batteries while responding to an analyst query, he was interrupted by Musk. "The best. It is not a class," Musk interjected. "Yes, we're the best. Sorry," Ahuja replied. "The best in a class of one," Musk made sure to point out.

The company's Nevada "Gigafactory" is now producing vehicular battery packs at a rate of 3,000 per week.

Also at CNBC and Reuters.

See also: Opinion: Why I'll keep shorting Tesla's stock, and not just because of that earnings call

Tesla to Report Q1 2018 Earnings Amid Doubts About the Company's Future

Tesla will report its first quarter earnings at the end of the day on May 2. The company needs some good news:

The company that Elon Musk built to usher in the electric-car future might not have enough cash to make it through the calendar year. The anxieties that lurk beneath the tremendous ambition of Tesla Inc. moved into the forefront in recent weeks. The company again fell far short of its own production targets for the mass-market Model 3 sedan, another person died in a crash involving its assisted-driving feature and Musk entered into a public dispute with federal safety regulators. Tesla's once high-flying stock, buffeted by a downgrade from credit analysts, has dropped 24 percent from its peak in September.

There's a good reason to worry: No one has raised or spent money the way Elon Musk has. Nor has any other chief executive officer of a public company made a bankruptcy joke on Twitter at a time when so much seemed to be unraveling.

Tesla is going through money so fast that, without additional financing, there is now a genuine risk that the 15-year-old company could run out of cash in 2018. The company burns through more than $6,500 every minute, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Free cash flow—the amount of cash a company generates after accounting for capital expenditures—has been negative for five consecutive quarters. That will be a key figure to watch when Tesla reports earnings May 2.

Tesla has just been sued by Nikola Motor Company for patent infringement. Tesla is accused of copying the design of Nikola's hydrogen semi trucks; Tesla says that Nikola's claims are without merit.

Elon Musk says don't worry about Tesla's burn rate—he might be right

Related: Tesla Burns More Cash, Fails to Meet Production Targets
Tesla Sued Over Alleged Racism; Deliveries Pushed Back; Semi Truck to be Unveiled
Elon Musk's Monstrous, Enormously Large Compensation Package


Original Submission #1   Original Submission #2Original Submission #3

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday May 04 2018, @01:51PM (1 child)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Friday May 04 2018, @01:51PM (#675646) Journal

    Except that the people who make those investments have done so with certain expectations of convention and assurances that the corporation and its officers are responsible in a fiduciary sense.
    Blowing off questions in an investment call, if it results in a stock drop and a devaluation of investments, might be construed as negligent or fradulent behavior. (Even more so if the speaker then manages to profit further by exercising options or similar.)
    CxO 's do not just get to do whatever they want however they want. They are directly responsible to the shareholders, who have the right to take action if that individual steps out of line and the company suffers.

    If there is no harm, then there's no foul. But that harm may come coincidentally and hang the person out to dry.

    Not to mention antagonizing the people who have a vote in your having your job (assuming it isn't somehow strategic itself) is not a smart strategy.

    --
    This sig for rent.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday May 04 2018, @01:53PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Friday May 04 2018, @01:53PM (#675648) Journal

    Correction... CxOs are responsible to the Board, who are responsible to the shareholders. Missed the intermediate step even though I think the meaning holds.

    --
    This sig for rent.