Investor's Corner
Former Tesla bear explains why the clock is ticking on TSLA shorts
Tesla shares (NASDAQ:TSLA) have largely leveled out in the ~$1,400 per share range following the company’s release of its impressive second quarter earnings. But despite this pullback following its massive run that went as high as $1,794 per share, a former Tesla bear has stated that the company’s critics are still missing the big picture. This is because Tesla will continue growing, regardless of how many times goalposts are moved.
The run up to the company’s release of its Q2 2020 earnings was bolstered by a lot of momentum, part of which was the company’s potential inclusion into the S&P 500, which seems more likely considering that the electric car maker was able to post a profit in the second quarter. An inclusion into the S&P 500 could provide Tesla with both short term and long term benefits, since TSLA stock could see another run up after massive funds purchase the company’s stock. Long term, an inclusion into the S&P would allow Tesla shares to be less volatile as well.
One thing that is remarkable now is that Tesla’s uncanny similarities to Apple and Amazon are starting to become more evident. Both Apple and Amazon are performing well in their respective segments, and Tesla seems poised to follow the two companies’ lead. Similar to Apple, Tesla has developed a disruptive new technology. The company is also supported by a strong brand and loyal customers. Its products like the Model 3 are also quite similar to iPhones in the way that they are sleek, powerful, and easy to use.
Tesla’s similarity with Amazon is a bit more subtle, but both companies have so far prioritized scaling up market share over profits. This was mentioned by Elon Musk in the previous earnings call when he stated that Tesla will not be prioritizing profitability as it grows. Instead, Musk stated that the company would be passing on profits to consumers to scale up market share. Interestingly enough, this is where TSLA bears usually misinterpret the company, with price cuts and other strategies being connected to weak demand instead of optimizations.
“While bears continue to misinterpret this as a lack of demand for their product, it is quite the opposite. As Tesla becomes more efficient at producing vehicles, they find internal cost savings. “Normal” companies would use this opportunity to expand their margin profile and improve profitability. Tesla uses this opportunity to lower pricing, passing on the margin to consumers. This lower pricing leads to increased demand, improving Tesla’s market share dynamics,” the former Tesla bear wrote.
And here lies what could very well be the fatal flaw of Tesla’s critics. Over the years, and as the company continued to dismantle the bear case against it, the goalposts for Tesla have been moved several times. During its early days, the argument was that BEVs weren’t feasible. When this was proven wrong with the original Roadster, it became replaced with the allegation that Tesla only produces high priced cars. The next came in allegations that the company could not produce a mass market car.
When the Model 3 was ramped, the goalpost was moved to the argument that there was no demand for a mass market EV. Sure enough, when that thesis was dismantled, the goalpost was moved once more. This time around, the allegation was that the company could not make mass market cars profitably. This was debunked as well, but the goalpost was moved once more to the argument that Tesla’s profits are “manipulated” since it includes BEV credits, which the company earns from other carmakers who are not producing EVs.
These moving goalposts could ultimately result in some grief for Tesla short sellers. After all, the electric car maker is now in more stable ground. And if it could not be brought down when it was struggling, it would be very difficult to topple it now that its business is stronger. Ultimately, the former Tesla bear noted that with these factors in mind, the clock may very well be ticking on TSLA critics.
“The clock is ticking on bears and disbelievers in the Tesla story. The company is executing, they are going to be admitted into the S&P 500, their business parallels big tech companies like Apple and Amazon, and bears continually move the goalposts. At a time when Tesla is called one of the greatest bubbles in the market, I would consider it the exact opposite. The recent dip in the stock is an opportunity to buy,” the former bear wrote.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
Elon Musk
Tesla locks in Elon Musk’s top problem solver as it enters its most ambitious era
The generous equity award was disclosed by the electric vehicle maker in a recent regulatory filing.
Tesla has granted Senior Vice President of Automotive Tom Zhu more than 520,000 stock options, tying a significant portion of his compensation to the company’s long-term performance.
The generous equity award was disclosed by the electric vehicle maker in a recent regulatory filing.
Tesla secures top talent
According to a Form 4 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tom Zhu received 520,021 stock options with an exercise price of $435.80 per share. Since the award will not fully vest until March 5, 2031, Zhu must remain at Tesla for more than five years to realize the award’s full benefit.
Considering that Tesla shares are currently trading at around the $445 to $450 per share level, Zhu will really only see gains in his equity award if Tesla’s stock price sees a notable rise over the years, as noted in a Sina Finance report.
Still, even at today’s prices, Zhu’s stock award is already worth over $230 million. If Tesla reaches the market cap targets set forth in Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award, Zhu would become a billionaire from this equity award alone.
Tesla’s problem solver
Zhu joined Tesla in April 2014 and initially led the company’s Supercharger rollout in China. Later that year, he assumed the leadership of Tesla’s China business, where he played a central role in Tesla’s localization efforts, including expanding retail and service networks, and later, overseeing the development of Gigafactory Shanghai.
Zhu’s efforts helped transform China into one of Tesla’s most important markets and production hubs. In 2023, Tesla promoted Zhu to Senior Vice President of Automotive, placing him among the company’s core global executives and expanding his influence beyond China. He has since garnered a reputation as the company’s problem solver, being tapped by Elon Musk to help ramp Giga Texas’s vehicle production.
With this in mind, Tesla’s recent filing seems to suggest that the company is locking in its top talent as it enters its newest, most ambitious era to date. As could be seen in the targets of Elon Musk’s 2025 pay package, Tesla is now aiming to be the world’s largest company by market cap, and it is aiming to achieve production levels that are unheard of. Zhu’s talents would definitely be of use in this stage of the company’s growth.
Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”
Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.
His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’
Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.
He writes:
“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”
Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.
This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.
One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.
Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:
“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”
Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) just got a price target boost from its biggest bear, Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research, who raised his expected trading level to one that is 95 percent lower than its current trading level.
Johnson pushed his Tesla price target from $19.05 to $25.28 on Wednesday, while maintaining the ‘Sell’ rating that has been present on the stock for a long time. GLJ has largely been recognized as the biggest skeptic of Elon Musk’s company, being particularly critical of the automotive side of things.
Tesla has routinely been called out by Johnson for negative delivery growth, what he calls “weakening demand,” and price cuts that have occurred in past years, all pointing to them as desperate measures to sell its cars.
Johnson has also said that Tesla is extremely overvalued and is too reliant on regulatory credits for profitability. Other analysts on the bullish side recognize Tesla as a company that is bigger than just its automotive side.
Many believe it is a leader in autonomous driving, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, who believes Tesla will have a widely successful 2026, especially if it can come through on its targets and schedules for Robotaxi and Cybercab.
Justifying the price target this week, Johnson said that the revised valuation is based on “reality rather than narrative.” Tesla has been noted by other analysts and financial experts as a stock that trades on narrative, something Johnson obviously disagrees with.
Dan Nathan, a notorious skeptic of the stock, turned bullish late last year, recognizing the company’s shares trade on “technicals and sentiment.” He said, “From a trading perspective, it looks very interesting.”
Tesla bear turns bullish for two reasons as stock continues boost
Johnson has remained very consistent with this sentiment regarding Tesla and his beliefs regarding its true valuation, and has never shied away from putting his true thoughts out there.
Tesla shares closed at $431.40 today, about 95 percent above where Johnson’s new price target lies.
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