Connect with us

Investor's Corner

Op-Ed: Tesla faces a unique challenge–a growing number of investors who no longer believe in Elon Musk

Daniel Oberhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Published

on

Tesla’s (TSLA:NASDAQ) Proxy Statement 2024 revealed that the company is asking shareholders to approve two big proposals at the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders in June: Tesla’s reincorporation to Texas and the ratification of Musk’s 2018 compensation plan, which was rescinded by a Delaware judge in late January. Considering the sentiments of the Tesla community online today, it would appear that the electric vehicle maker will be facing a rather unique situation in June — a growing group of shareholders who have grown to dislike Elon Musk. 

Elon Musk has never really behaved like a conventional CEO, not for Tesla or any company that he leads or has led in the past. Tesla will also never have 100% of his time, as he is also the CEO of SpaceX, and he is involved with his other companies like Neuralink, The Boring Company, xAI, and X, formerly Twitter. For years, Musk and the Tesla community seemed to have maintained an agreement that such a setup was agreeable. But with Tesla stock down 40% year-to-date, sentiments surrounding Musk have become quite negative. 

Negative Sentiments

These sentiments became quite evident after Tesla announced that it was looking to ratify Musk’s 2018 compensation package, and they became even more prominent when the company went live with https://www.supportteslavalue.com/, a dedicated website that encourages shareholders to support the company’s proposals. Such sentiments were quite notable in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, a group with over 2.7 million members. When a user posted a link to https://www.supportteslavalue.com/, the vast majority of the comments claimed that they would be voting against the ratification of Musk’s 2018 compensation package. 

Support Tesla!
byu/cicada57 inteslamotors

The same is true on social media platform X. Musk has become more polarizing than ever as he continued to express his opinions on political and societal matters, and this has resulted in a growing number of Tesla community members seemingly getting disillusioned with the CEO. This was quite evident with Leo KoGuan, a prominent retail shareholder who claims to hold over 27 million TSLA shares. While KoGuan has been very supportive of Musk in the past, his recent posts showed a notable disdain for the CEO. “I fell in love with the crafted image, I was naĩve,” KoGuan wrote. He also noted that if Musk only spends more time at Tesla, the company would be so much better off.

A look at the overall sentiments of alleged TSLA shareholders that seem inclined to vote against Musk’s 2018 compensation plan suggests that investors are most frustrated about the company’s stock price, which has never really recovered since Musk sold part of his personal shares when he purchased Twitter. Many are also notably frustrated at Musk’s polarizing and controversial posts on X, some of which seem to be targeting the very demographic that initially supported Tesla and ensured its survival in its early years. The volume of Musk’s posts about topics like DEI, the US border, and politics has also given the impression that he is simply not focused on Tesla anymore. 

Elon Musk: Strength to Liability

Overall, the situation could be summarized as follows: In 2018, most TSLA shareholders seemed secure in the belief that Musk was the company’s biggest strength. In 2024, a growing number of shareholders seem to believe that Musk has become Tesla’s biggest liability. So prominent are these sentiments today that some have seemingly adopted the idea that Musk is now weighing Tesla down and driving it to the ground, so the EV maker’s best chance of survival is to kick Musk out of Tesla and replace him with a more level-headed and focused CEO — someone like Tim Cook, who is arguably not as innovative as Steve Jobs, but is the leader that brought Apple to a $2.55 trillion valuation. 

As noted by Tesla community members on social media, TSLA stock, after accounting for the stock splits that the company has implemented over the years, was trading at less than $20 per share when Musk’s 2018 compensation package was initially approved. Thus, even in its current state, it should be noted that TSLA shares are still up over 800%. While Tesla has fallen significantly from its peak, when the company was worth over a trillion dollars, it is still more than eight times more valuable than it was when investors approved Musk’s compensation plan. 

Advertisement
-

In a way, voting against the ratification of Musk’s 2018 compensation plan will probably ensure that Tesla becomes a competent, predictable carmaker — and that’s not so bad at all. Tesla will still be one of the few American automotive startups that survived and thrived in a very long time. That’s a whole lot of accomplishments that can never be taken away from the company, no matter what happens moving forward. Voting in support of the company’s proposals would likely mean that Tesla, under Musk’s leadership, will continue to wager its future on risky innovations that hold world-changing potential, like AI and humanoid robots, all while Musk is focused on multiple, high-profile projects like SpaceX’s Starship program.

History will ultimately determine which of these choices will be the better option for Tesla. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Tesla has a Cybercab problem nobody saw coming

Tesla’s Cybercab line now builds robotaxis faster than Tesla can deploy them, Lars Moravy says.

Published

on

By

Tesla’s Cybercab line in Texas can now build the two seat robotaxi faster than the company can put it into service, according to Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering. “We don’t run every day because the line can run so fast. It’s currently outpacing our deployments,” Moravy said in a new Cybercab deep dive from Munro Live. “So, it’s a bit of a race right now. Who’s going to go faster? Right now the manufacturing line’s ahead.”

Tesla’s official Robotaxi account shared a Cybercab analysis video on X on Monday, calling it a “Cybercab engineering deep dive.” Moravy’s comments go further than what he told analysts on the Q3 earnings call last week, when he said the Cybercab line’s listed capacity of more than 125,000 units a year undersells what it can actually run.

The tour shows where that speed comes from. Tesla’s unboxed process splits the Cybercab into front, rear, side and center modules that are built and tested on their own before they meet on a short final line. That final line has just 25 fully automated stations, which Tesla’s team estimated is a fifth to a tenth of what a Model Y needs. The full line is about 78% automated, the framing line is already at 100%, and the layout uses roughly 50% less floor space per vehicle. The stated goal is “100% automation in 10 second cycle time,” or one finished Cybercab every 10 seconds.

Tesla also deleted the paint shop. Only the side modules are coated, and the exterior panels get their color inside the molding machine. Engineers said the car is designed to run at least 500,000 miles, which matters for a vehicle that will spend most of its day carrying riders.

The battery got the same treatment. The Cybercab uses an 88S6P pack of 4680 cells in a steel enclosure, a first for Tesla, with each module potted separately so a single failed module can be swapped instead of the whole pack. Wireless battery management boards replace a wiring harness, and new contactors are fast enough to drop the pyro fuse entirely. Tesla’s battery director graded the pack an A minus, compared with a D for the Model Y structural pack and a B minus for Cybertruck. Up front, the drive unit runs an 11:1 gear ratio versus roughly 9:1 on most Teslas, since the Cybercab does not need a high top speed.

Advertisement
-

The deployment side is now the bottleneck Moravy described. Tesla had more than 50 Cybercabs working the Formula 1 weekend in Austin, and Texas records show 463 Cybercabs registered. Tesla said on its earnings call that Cybercab service will launch in Dallas next month, and Moravy said the company is aiming to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026. Every unit built so far has gone into Tesla’s own fleet since the line moved into volume production in April.

Munro Live also asked when it could get a Cybercab to tear down. Tesla’s answer: “Not yet.”

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla Q3 2026 Earnings results: in-line revenues, slight beat on EPS

Published

on

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the third quarter of 2026, marking a reasonable performance on the various financial metrics. Tesla still plans to hold a call that will field investor questions at 5:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. CT.

Here’s where Earnings came in:

  • Total Revenues: $28.046 reported vs. $28.34B expected
  • Non-GAAP EPS: $0.48 reported vs. $0.45 expected
  • Operating Margin: 2.6 % reported vs. 2.5% expected
  • Operating Income: $718M reported vs. $721M expected
  • Free Cash Flow: $1.531B reported vs. ~-$4.51B expected

Major Takeaways

Full Self-Driving (Supervised)

“FSD (Supervised)⁴ attach rate continued to grow, reaching over 75% of new vehicle deliveries in North America – our most mature market – a nearly twenty percentage point sequential increase. We believe that FSD is driving demand in markets where it is available, and we continue to work with regulators to get it approved in other markets.”

Tesla Semi

“We began volume production of Tesla Semi, our Class 8 heavy-duty truck. The top variant can go 500 miles at full 82,000 lbs gross combination weight while achieving an efficiency of 1.7 kWh/mile. That efficiency allows the Tesla Semi to use a third of the energy used by a comparable diesel truck to haul the same payload. In a transportation market where energy is one of the largest components of total cost per mile, this will provide a meaningful advantage to Tesla Semi operators.”

SI Compute

“We plan to reach 400 MW of SI training compute by the end of the year, supporting the development of both vehicle and humanoid robot autonomy software. Additionally, we continued construction for the Austin Fab, where we plan to start commissioning equipment in 2027.”

Robotaxi

“We began deployment of Cybercab into our Robotaxi fleet in Austin. We reached nearly two million cumulative unsupervised miles for our Robotaxi service as of the end of the quarter. Operating hours in Austin are now 6am to midnight, and we expect to reduce wait times via increased fleet supply and improvement of Robotaxi orchestration algorithms. Grok is available in Cybercab with access to Grok Bot and Connectors, which allows users to manage their inbox, calendars, files, chats and tasks – all hands free via voice command – making Cybercab a mode of transport, a productivity space and, with our entertainment options, a second living room.”

Interested in ordering a Tesla? Use my referral code for three free months of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) here.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla reports Q3 Earnings today: here’s what to expect

Published

on

Credit: TechOperator | X

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reports its earnings for Q3 today. Here’s what to expect, as the company will reveal its balance sheet after the market closes on Wednesday.

Tesla already reported deliveries just after Q3 ended, and it demolished Wall Street consensus estimates of roughly 462,000 vehicles. Tesla delivered 486,532 cars in the third quarter, which was a big beat, but was down 2.1 percent from the same quarter last year. Energy storage deployments were 13.7 GWh, up year-over-year.

Tesla showrooms picked clean ahead of Q3 end as demand looks strong

For the quarter, analysts have already compiled their predictions for what Tesla will report this afternoon:

  • Total Revenues: $28.34B
  • Non-GAAP EPS: $0.43
  • Operating Margin: 2.5%
  • Operating Income: $721M
  • Free Cash Flow: ~-$4.51B

Here are a few things we are looking forward to hearing about on the call:

Automotive Gross Margin and Overall Profitability

This was 16.3 percent in Q2, down from 19.2 percent in Q1, and was impacted by warranty charges and some fading regulatory credits. Consensus implies overall gross margin near 18 percent, but a miss here would potentially reinforce concerns about pricing pressure on its vehicles.

Pay attention to energy storage margins as well, especially since Tesla missed GWh expectations, although it was still a strong quarter.

Robotaxi/Cybercab, Unsupervised FSD, and Optimus Progress

The Say questions from retail investors usually focus on these types of projects, and this quarter is no different. Scaling the Cybercab fleet beyond Austin amid the open NHTSA safety review, timeline for Unsupervised FSD in customer cars, Robotaxi unit economics, and Optimus cost per unit plus when it could start generating revenue, are all things to be looking for.

Any concrete timelines or regulatory path details will likely move the stock more than the near-term numbers. SpaceX merger speculation, which was detailed during SpaceX’s earnings call last night, may also surface, although the key details were shared last night.

Elon Musk just confirmed the Tesla and SpaceX merger step everyone was waiting for

Say Investor Questions

  1. How does the Cybercab fleet scale past Austin, and what’s the regulatory path outside Texas given NHTSA’s open safety review?
  2. When can we anticipate FSD unsupervised in customer cars?
  3. When will the CyberCab be available for customer purchase/ownership?
  4. What’s the unit economics per paid robotaxi mile, and how does it compare to the thirty-cent target?
  5. Tesla has acknowledged that HW3 vehicles cannot support unsupervised FSD. When will owners know whether they can upgrade their hardware for free, and when will Tesla provide a clear plan?

The full Earnings Call will be streamed this evening after market close around 5 p.m. this evening.

Continue Reading