Now if automotive sales were still the be all and end all of Tesla's profits, this might still be somewhat relevant. However, energy sales continue to take off, Robotaxis are going to take up any slack in the market and provide much greater margin than each unit sold would generate. So I'm still relaxed holding my $TSLA. Then comes Optimus...

More ancient FUD dredged up on cue by Bloomberg. This is a non-story from 2022, where latches are provided to release car doors, but people don't know where to find them. As far as battery fires go, Teslas are about 1000x less likely to catch fire than combustion vehicles (the clue is in the word "combustion"), but no mention of that fact within this hit piece.

At long last! Delaware could see the writing on the wall should the lower court's decision had been allowed to stand. The loss of tax revenue from companies moving out of state was beginning to hit hard.

Ark does tend to take profits on $Tsla following a major increase in price, because that typically unbalances their portfolio and they need to bring it back within announced limits. The headline referencing "Dumping stock" tends to make this look like Ark suddenly went off $Tsla for some reason, but they remain very bullish and have taken similar actions many times before.

Tell me you're thinking of this company and are fixated on car sales, and not as an AI company, a ride-hail company, a robotics company, an energy company ...

Another excellent "buy the dip" opportunity, courtesy of over-eager DMV officials in California. Seriously, do they think this threat to ban sales in California would stick? Apart from the fact that FSD unsupervised is demonstrated to work in Austin already, so there's nothing really to correct, Tesla could easily absorb a sales ban by using the output to augment their own Robotaxi fleet. But an amusing news item, nevertheless.

Another "buy the dip" opportunity, thanks to this FUD and a crazy Optimus video, where a teleoperator took off his helmet and the Optimus which was handing out drinks switched itself off and fell over. Bloomberg, of course, raised doubts about the reliability of autonomy, completely ignoring the fact that it is known that older Optimus robots at events like these are teleoperated. It was a funny video, nevertheless.

It's easy to dominate the low end, unprofitable end of the market. That's not where Tesla operates.

Contrast this with Reuters, who can't resist "balancing" som good news with "but the competition is coming", the same refrain we have been hearing for the last 15 years, and which is still to arrive.

"...as the U.S. automaker grapples with intense competition in China and Europe". But is it though? Where are all the other EV makers posting profits? And will the relatively low-margin auto sales industry continue to be Tesla's bread and butter business model over the upcoming few years? Why is it that so many of Tesla's competitors have alarmingly low Altman-Z scores and are hovering in the risk of bankruptcy zone? And why do we get so many of these alarmist stories from Reuters? Doesn't Tesla spend loads of advertising dollars with them? Well, no it doesn't, actually.

If it's Reuters, you can place a readonable bet that it's going to be another hit piece on $TSLA. Same with Business Insider. Tesla's multiple is so high because the market has to some extent priced in the present value of future earnings, which include disruptive technologies like the imminent arrival of Robotaxi revenues, which if Tesla executes well, are likely to be massive. Down the track we have Optimus, likely to dwarf Robotaxi, and if Elon is to be believed, data centres in space!  I think it's risky being a short in such times.

To include an analyst like Gordon Johnson with a zero star rating and include his low-ball rating of sub- $20, artificially skews the anslyst's average rating way lower than it should be, artificially strengthening the Bear's case for a lower price.

Whilst this may not be the promised 500 by year end in Austin, Musk's words, "slowly at first, then all at once", should serve as a warning to those shorting this stock. When FSD 14.3 arrives, and it is obvious to all that Full Self Driving is, to all intents and purposes, finally solved, then this opens the door to Tesla turning on their fleet at the flick of a switch to a full-on instaneous Robotaxi fleet. People worried about falling registrations should note that Tesla can simply continue building cars and expand its in-house fleet, without adding to inventory. Those Robotaxis will then generate ongoing revenue which will dwarf the one-time profit selling cars generate.

Hmm... who are the only car companies Selling EVs at a profit? That would be Tesla and perhaps BYD, though BYD appear to have their own problems. Whilst it is tempting to look at deliveries to measure a car company's performance, Tesla is a different beast, one that is transitioning away from car sales as the major revenue source, to repeatable revenue streams such as FSD, Robotaxi, Optimus and vehicle hire. There's a reason Tesla is gearing up to vastly increase vehicle production in 2026 and 2027, and it's not because it plans to use these extra vehicles in the traditional marketplace of old.

Hmm. the comments about Musk pay packages seem a bit off-beam to me. Firstly I would be very surprised if TSLA's existing accounts don't make provision for Elon's 2018 pay package. Secondly, his recently approved package only becomes payable if Tesla achieves gargantuan results, in which case the tranches achieved would be justified in terms of increased shareholder value delivered. What does the author want? No pay package and sub optimal profits, or a huge pay package if gargantuan growth is achieved? Personally I'd prefer the latter.

I don't think the downward pressure will last past it being blindingly obvious that Robotaxi will rapidly ramp up in the very near future. Meanwhile, as a retail investor I am happily buying the dip. Hopefully it will decline to circa $360 before the dam breaks. Musk has been giving too many hints lately that he sees short sellers getting badly burned with a revaluation of TSLA incoming.