Tesla had its Q1 earnings call last week, right after releasing news that its profits last quarter fell 55 percent. Not only is that loss a big drop on its own, but it’s also significantly higher than the 40-percent drop that analysts had estimated ahead of the announcement. Instead of making that the main topic of the earnings call, though, Musk focused on how Tesla is an AI and robotics company, not a traditional automaker, even going so far as to say you shouldn’t own the stock if you think Tesla should function like a real car company.
About 37 minutes into the call, one analyst asked about Tesla’s Chinese competitors and how long it might take for them to catch up with Tesla from a hardware perspective. Musk didn’t exactly answer the question, instead pointing out that even though Tesla’s sales were down in China, they weren’t down as much as some of their Chinese competitors, saying, “So we’re doing well.
He then pivoted, saying, “Really, we should be thought of as an AI robotics company. If you value Tesla as just an auto company, you just have to fundamentally, that’s just the wrong framework. If you ask the wrong question, then the right answer is impossible. If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company.”
Basically, don’t get bogged down in the little things such as sales and profits. Sure, other competitors may build better vehicles and take Tesla’s market share, but that’s only a bad thing if you think Tesla the automaker should function like an automaker. Making cars is only a small part of what Tesla does, and if you’re worried about things going poorly on that front, sell your shares and get out now. Elon doesn’t want you.
Instead, the only people who should be investing in Tesla are the ones who fully believe that the company is just around the corner from solving full autonomy and turning its entire fleet into some sort of botnet. The same company that told us back in early 2018 it was only six to eight months away from an autonomous Tesla being able to do a coast-to-coast drive after missing its previous goal of making that same thing happen back in 2017.
So, of course, because it’s Tesla, instead of a massive sell-off this morning from investors who are done with Musk’s bullshit, the stock was already up about 12 per cent on the day of the call. Make it make sense.