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Wall Street loves Tesla's Elon Musk, values the brand higher than Fiat

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:15:00 EST

Tesla's value on the stock market far exceeds the number of vehicles it contributes to the automotive market. According to a report from Automotive News, Tesla is currently valued at $8.8 billion. Almost unbelievably, though we've never claimed to have a firm grasp on the inner workings of the stock market, that's a full billion dollars more valuable than Fiat and three times more valuable than PSA Peugeot Citroën, says the report.

How unfathomable is that statistic? Consider the fact that Tesla, a ten-year-old company, just managed to turn its very first profit last quarter and has produced fewer than 10,000 vehicles in its lifetime. How does that compare to an automotive giant like Fiat? Well... it doesn't - The brand sold 44,772 Fiat 500s in the United States alone in 2012, and it owns or controls the Chrysler portfolio of brands along with Ferrari and Maserati... not to mention the hundreds of thousands of cars Fiat Group sells yearly in the rest of the world.

Granted, the number of vehicles sold by a brand is just a small portion of its value, but you may still wonder, Why is such a seemingly small player in the global automotive marketplace such a big deal on Wall Street? According to AN, it has a lot to do with its controversial and headline-grabbing CEO, Elon Musk, and the way he disseminates company information to his investors. How so? We suggest you take a good look at the article here for the whole story.

Wall Street loves Tesla's Elon Musk, values the brand higher than Fiat originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why Tesla will need more loans to make it through 2013

Jonathon Ramsey — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:44:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Tesla

It's fun to bet against Elon Musk and Tesla - that's the best reason we can find for so many people doing it even though the man, his company and his cars are still here and still very popular. The latest name inscribed in the column labeled "Skeptical of Tesla" is John Shinal at Market Watch who, in year-end commentary on Tesla's financials, says that the "carmaker's financials are reminiscent of a dot-com's." He does not mean that in the good way.

To be fair, Shinal isn't exactly betting against Tesla, he's saying that if you check the bottom lines, the only thing keeping Tesla alive is the hundreds of millions in Federal Department of Energy loans it has received. Based on its filings, he says the company has less than six months of cash on hand, hasn't produced as many cars as it promised and had to lower its revenue forecast for 2012, has had a "year of net losses and negative operating cash flow," and was underwater by at least $37 million at the end of the third quarter.

But Shinal's not done there, summarizing Tesla as an operation with "a poor habit of failing to deliver to customers the cars it has promised them, while simultaneously raising the prices of those yet-undelivered cars," and "a lousy level of customer service." He says there are more damning things to be found in Tesla's SEC registration settlement from September, but we'll have to wait for his next column to find out what those are. The takeaway, in Shinal's opinion, is that even though Tesla will keep getting money from the government, that investors have no business dealing in Tesla stock.

Early in his piece, Shinal says Tesla's financials are worse than those of Zynga and Groupon, two hot dot-coms that have fallen on their faces since their IPOs. Shinal knows far more about finances than we do, but we wonder if it makes the most sense to compare a brand new car company developing brand new technologies - with the colossal amounts of up-front cash each one of those things requires, and a company with Tesla's record so far - to a social media game developer and an online coupon distributor. Head over to Market Watch to read the full piece.

Why Tesla will need more loans to make it through 2013 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Tesla Motors share price drops as IPO lock-up period ends

Autoblog Staff — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:29:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Tesla, Electric

Tesla Motors (TSLA) shares were hammered hard near the end of last week and are still dropping as word of the expiration of a 180-day post-IPO lock-up agreement continues to make the rounds. Starting today, 75 million Tesla shares, which had previously been subject to a lock-up agreement restricting their sale, will be eligible for registration.

The automaker's recent 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission noted that a fall in share price could possibly coincide with the expiration of the 180-day post-IPO lock-up agreement. The filing's actual wording reads:

The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the market in the future, and the perception that these sales could occur may also depress the market price of our common stock.

Tesla shares are currently listed at $25.44, a drop from the $29.36 that they were trading at in early November and a decline from the $32-plus price recorded near the middle of last week.

[Source: Forbes]

Report: Tesla Motors share price drops as IPO lock-up period ends originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla shares in freefall, now below IPO price

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:39:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Tesla, Electric

After rising 41 percent on the first day of trading, stock in Tesla Motors has been in an alarming freefall. Yesterday, shares of Tesla Motors fell another 16 percent, landing below their initial offering price of $17 each. For those keeping track of such things, company head and largest shareholder Elon Musk's shares are now worth $433 million, a good bit less than their $457 million value after the IPO.

We're clearly not experts on the subject, so we'll tell you what more qualified people have to say. According to Josef Schuster, the Chicago-based founder of IPOX Capital Management LLC, "The company is a great concept with relatively weak fundamentals. Markets are weak and in a weak market right now this is hurting the company even more."

Financial expert Michael Holland explains, "They brought this thing into a market that was not rewarding hype... The stock did get its pop, and now it's plagued by the reality of the marketplace. The reality of the marketplace is that people aren't paying for dreams and visions."

[Source: Business Week, MarketWatch]

Tesla shares in freefall, now below IPO price originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla files with the feds for IPO *UPDATED

Jonny Lieberman — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:38:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Tesla, Electric

Tesla Model S - click above for high-res image gallery

For the first time in more than fifty years, a U.S. automaker is holding a public offering. Henry Ford made shares of Ford Motor Company public back in 1956. Tesla, the Elon Musk-owned Silicon Valley electric car company, filed to do so today. There's no word as to when the shares will be available for public consumption, nor any word as to how much each share will cost.

As for the timing of the filing, Telsa has sold nearly 1,000 (987 at last count) all-electric Roadsters in 18 different countries. Moreover, it has taken 2,000 reservations for its upcoming, more mainstream Model S, which is still at least a year away from production. With the production version of the Chevrolet Volt right around the corner, Tesla is looking to capitalize (quite literally) on the "growing interest in green technology and battery-powered vehicles." Should you buy? Don't ask us. However, King Midas-fingered whiz kids Sergey Brin and Larry Page (you know, the guys that founded Google) have already invested.

UPDATE: Full IPO filing here.

Gallery: Tesla Model S in motion

Gallery: Tesla Model S: LIVE REVEAL

[Soruce: Reuters]

Tesla files with the feds for IPO *UPDATED originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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