Investor's Corner
Tesla investors post questions for TSLA Q4 and FY 2023 earnings call
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings call is less than a week away, and investors are already submitting questions for the event’s Q&A session.
Similar to past earnings calls, Tesla is gathering inquiries from both retail and institutional TSLA shareholders using investor communications platform Say. As of writing, Say’s webpage for the Tesla Q4 and FY 2023 earnings call features a variety of questions, spanning topics from the next-generation vehicle, Giga Mexico’s construction, and Cybertruck reservation numbers, to automotive gross margins and Elon Musk’s social media posts about his compensation plan.
Following are the top ten questions from TSLA retail investors that are currently listed in Say:
- Given that you moved the start of the next-generation compact vehicle production to Austin, has the timeline improved so that we might see next-generation platform vehicles in 2025?
- Mr. Musk has asked for a 25% stake in Tesla. Will the BOD consider a share buyback to help archive this? And if so, what would that dollar amount look like?
- How many Cybertruck orders are in the queue, and when do you anticipate you will be able to fulfill all existing orders?
- When will Tesla start construction on the Giga Nevada expansion and Giga Mexico, and when can we expect each of these to produce their first products, such as 4680, Semi, and next-gen vehicles?
- What has been the barrier to ramping 4680 cells into the multi-million cells per week rate, and when do you expect to get there?
- When will Optimus be deployed in Tesla’s Gigafactories?
- What are Tesla’s biggest priorities for 2024?
- When will you ramp to mass production of the Semi, and what are the barriers to getting there?
- When will FSD V12 roll out to the public?
- Why don’t you offer tiered pricing for FSD? Take-up rates would significantly increase if you reduced the price for those who are intending to use (FSD) for solely personal use. You can charge a higher rate for robotaxi/commercial use in the future when available.
Following are five questions from TSLA institutional investors that are currently aggregated by Say:
- What is your expectation for automotive gross margins (excluding regulatory credits) for the full year?
- Does the company anticipate a 50% volume CAGR to be realized in either of 2024 or 2025? If not, why not?
- Can you please speak to the economics and attach rate of Autobidder. This is now making significant trading profit for customers. How does Tesla share in that value?
- Instead of a new equity compensation plan, could Tesla acquire X, X.ai, and/or SpaceX in order to bring additional AI expertise into Tesla while increasing Elon’s voting control of the business?
- In light of recent residual value declines vs. the potential for future asset price appreciation with FSD, should Tesla repurchase all used Tesla vehicles outside its existing inventory?
Tesla is expected to hold its Q4 and FY 2023 earnings call on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. Central Time / 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Tesla executives such as CEO Elon Musk are expected to be part of the call.
Do you have questions that you would like to address to Tesla? Here’s a link to Say’s webpage for the Tesla Q4 and FY 2023 earnings call so you can share your inquiry.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
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Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
-->Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
-->It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
Investor's Corner
Mizuho keeps Tesla (TSLA) “Outperform” rating but lowers price target
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected.
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh lowered Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) price target to $475 from $485, citing potential 2026 EV subsidy cuts in the U.S. and China that could pressure deliveries. The firm maintained its Outperform rating for the electric vehicle maker, however.
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected. The U.S. accounted for roughly 37% of Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 sales, while China represented about 34%, making both markets highly sensitive to policy shifts. Potential 50% cuts to Chinese subsidies and reduced U.S. incentives affected the firm’s outlook.
With those pressures factored in, the firm now expects Tesla to deliver 1.75 million vehicles in 2026 and 2 million in 2027, slightly below consensus estimates of 1.82 million and 2.15 million, respectively. The analyst was cautiously optimistic, as near-term pressure from subsidies is there, but the company’s long-term tech roadmap remains very compelling.
Despite the revised target, Mizuho remained optimistic on Tesla’s long-term technology roadmap. The firm highlighted three major growth drivers into 2027: the broader adoption of Full Self-Driving V14, the expansion of Tesla’s Robotaxi service, and the commercialization of Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot.
“We are lowering TSLA Ests/PT to $475 with Potential BEV headwinds in 2026E. We believe into 2026E, US (~37% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) EV subsidy cuts and China (34% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) potential 50% EV subsidy cuts could be a headwind to EV deliveries.
-->“We are now estimating TSLA deliveries for 2026/27E at 1.75M/2.00M (slightly below cons. 1.82M/2.15M). We see some LT drivers with FSD v14 adoption for autonomous, robotaxi launches, and humanoid robots into 2027 driving strength,” the analyst noted.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) has landed an elusive “must own” status from Wall Street firm Melius, according to a new note released early this week.
Analyst Rob Wertheimer said Tesla will lead the charge in world-changing tech, given the company’s focus on self-driving, autonomy, and Robotaxi. In a note to investors, Wertheimer said “the world is about to change, dramatically,” because of the advent of self-driving cars.
He looks at the industry and sees many potential players, but the firm says there will only be one true winner:
“Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is.”
The major argument is that autonomy is nearing a tipping point where years of chipping away at the software and data needed to develop a sound, safe, and effective form of autonomous driving technology turn into an avalanche of progress.
Wertheimer believes autonomy is a $7 trillion sector,” and in the coming years, investors will see “hundreds of billions in value shift to Tesla.”
A lot of the major growth has to do with the all-too-common “butts in seats” strategy, as Wertheimer believes that only a fraction of people in the United States have ridden in a self-driving car. In Tesla’s regard, only “tens of thousands” have tried Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (Supervised) version, which is v14.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
When it reaches a widespread rollout and more people are able to experience Tesla Full Self-Driving v14, he believes “it will shock most people.”
Citing things like Tesla’s massive data pool from its vehicles, as well as its shift to end-to-end neural nets in 2021 and 2022, as well as the upcoming AI5 chip, which will be put into a handful of vehicles next year, but will reach a wider rollout in 2027, Melius believes many investors are not aware of the pace of advancement in self-driving.
Tesla’s lead in its self-driving efforts is expanding, Wertheimer says. The company is making strategic choices on everything from hardware to software, manufacturing, and overall vehicle design. He says Tesla has left legacy automakers struggling to keep pace as they still rely on outdated architectures and fragmented supplier systems.
Tesla shares are up over 6 percent at 10:40 a.m. on the East Coast, trading at around $416.
Tesla sees sharp November rebound in China as Model Y demand surges
Tesla bear gets blunt with beliefs over company valuation
