Tesla (TSLA) reported third quarter results that missed analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Kevin Paffrath, the YouTuber behind "Meet Kevin," a financial analyst, and Tesla investor, had harsh words for the EV maker's CEO Elon Musk. Paffrath called the company's earnings call "terrible," saying Musk has a lot going on, but "it doesn't justify acting like Trump on Twitter, stonewalling the SEC or the European Union, and quite frankly, turning into a little baby on the earnings call. I mean, he was almost in tears. It showed a complete lack of leadership. Tesla is a leadership-less company right now." Paffrath says Musk's performance was a "slap in the face to everyone," including shareholders and Tesla employees. Overall, Paffrath says that Tesla still has "so much potential," is "generating massive profit per vehicle," and has "great products."
Click here to watch the full interview on the Yahoo Finance YouTube page or you can watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.
Video Transcript
RACHELLE AKUFFO: This was not the earnings call that people were expecting. I mean, we're used to the kind of Musk that we see on X who, sort of, dips into everything, but this was an earnings call. What were your big takeaways from this?
KEVIN PAFFRATH: Oh, my gosh, this was terrible. I feel bad for him. Look, he's got a lot of things going on, legal battles, custody battles for his kids now, but it doesn't justify acting like Trump on Twitter stonewalling the SEC or the European Union, and quite frankly turning into a little baby on the earnings call.
I mean, he was almost in tears. It showed a complete lack of leadership. Tesla's a leadership-less company right now and it's terrible. That's why their CFO just left, I believe, as well.
And this is a slap in the face to everyone. It's not just the shareholders, but it's a slap in the face to the other managers who are still there and the over 100,000 employees at Tesla. For a leader to cry about the economy rather than funneling that and coming up with a plan is pathetic.
See, he's slow walking his plans to build the Mexico gigafactory because he's worried about the economy. He's afraid. But he should channel that and he should instead negotiate with the Mexican government, provide a clear formula. Rates go up, prices come down. It's not that hard.
But Tesla still has industry-leading margins over 16.3% going to gross profit. Out of every $100 they make, $16.30 going to gross profit beating every other American EV manufacturer and even a legacy auto manufacturer. They have so much going for them, but they should provide a clear formula.
They should advertise to higher-income areas. And they should provide a clear path for margin expectations. We got none of that. We got a leaderless Elon Musk who was afraid to be on an earnings call, who sounded beat down and like somebody who was basically leading Tesla into a directionless path forward. It's disgusting.
AKIKO FUJITA: Well, Kevin, regardless of, you know, how you interpret Elon Musk's comments, we are seeing that reverberate throughout the EV sector. You look at where shares are among Tesla's competitors all down partly because of what we heard from Elon Musk saying that higher rates are sapping demand. Is that the whole story here?
KEVIN PAFFRATH: Well, yeah. I mean, look, it's obvious that when rates go up, car prices become less affordable. It's the same thing for home prices, there are less buyers.
Now, when it comes to homes, there are also less sellers so you have a little less fluctuation. But in vehicles, everybody's producing more. So of course, this is normal.
But Tesla should be playing its strengths here. Tesla's strengths are out of everyone who is in this hard economy, Tesla is still generating massive profit per vehicle, massive free cash flow, the only pure play EV in America to actually be generating this cash flow. There's so much potential. There so close on autonomy.
They're so close on a revolutionary new vehicle, the Cybertruck, which is an exoskeleton rather than an internal skeleton for a vehicle. These are great products and the people at Tesla should be cheered for this. But we need to know the light is at the end of the tunnel rather than hearing a complaining CEO who's not actually providing that path. This makes people nervous and scared. It makes people want to quit Tesla--
AKIKO FUJITA: Kevin, if we look at the--
KEVIN PAFFRATH: --and not be part of that.
AKIKO FUJITA: --if we look at the sector as a whole though, I mean, the declines we're seeing today not in Tesla, but in the names like Rivian, Lucid, I mean, they all have their individual stories. But is that warranted when you consider the higher rates may be sapping demand right now? But I guess the question to you is, does that long term play for EV demand? Does that remain intact still?
KEVIN PAFFRATH: Oh, absolutely, 100%. Look, like, long term 5, 10 years down the road, everybody's going to want an electric vehicle. The range won't be an issue. There'll be charging stations everywhere.
You'll be able to charge faster than you can fill up your tank of gas. These cars are much safer. They're much less likely to catch fire they're much less likely to roll over you don't have fuel in the back of your car and the gas tank.
These vehicles are phenomenal. The acceleration is better, the handling is better. Everything about electric vehicles is better. Problem is you have, you know, Elon acting like Trump on Twitter and he's really frankly upsetting a lot of people.
There are a lot of, especially women which is another demographic Elon should be playing towards, upset and who would never touch a Tesla vehicle. So I'm very frustrated with Elon, but long term EVs will be dominant. Ice cars will go away, that is very clear. That long-term trajectory stays intact.
The Link LonkOctober 20, 2023 at 12:37AM
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiTGh0dHBzOi8vZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20vdmlkZW8vbXVzay10dXJuZWQtbGl0dGxlLWJhYnktdGVzbGEtMTczNzMxNjQwLmh0bWzSAVRodHRwczovL2ZpbmFuY2UueWFob28uY29tL2FtcGh0bWwvdmlkZW8vbXVzay10dXJuZWQtbGl0dGxlLWJhYnktdGVzbGEtMTczNzMxNjQwLmh0bWw?oc=5
Musk turned into 'a little baby' on Tesla call: Investor - Yahoo Finance
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment