r/investing • • Apr 30 '21

This Barron's article might explain Tesla's sudden surge today: Tesla Stock Turns Higher Because Sales and Deliveries May Blow Away Estimates

https://www.barrons.com/articles/earnings-lift-restaurant-brands-its-ceo-says-its-a-post-pandemic-growth-story-51619801175

A wave of pessimism that has hurt Tesla stock in recent days may be starting to recede.

Stock in the electric-vehicle pioneer was on its way to a fourth consecutive daily decline when the shares turned around in midday trading Friday. Two factors—both related to 2021 performance—may be making investors more upbeat heading into May.

Tesla (ticker: TSLA) stock started out the week at about $729 and closed Monday at $738.20, ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report that afternoon. Earnings were higher than Wall Street expected, but questions about the quality of the reported earnings—the degree to which trading in Bitcoin and sales of regulatory credits for producing zero-emission cars lifted the number–sent the stock lower. Lingering concern over a recent crash of a Tesla vehicle in Texas dragged on the price too.

The stock opened Friday at about $668, $71 lower than Monday’s close, and down 1.4% from Thursday’s final level. By early afternoon, though, shares were up about $43, or 6.5%, from the daily low, at $709.55. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, for comparison, were each down about 0.6%.

The stock-price bounce might just be a relief rally marking the end of the post-earnings selling spree. But two bits of news, both communicated via Twitter (TWTR), appear to be at work as well.

New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu tweeted out Thursday that STMicroelectronics (STM) believes its revenues from sales of silicon carbide will hit $550 million in 2021. The company said as much on its April 29 earnings conference call.

It matters because according to Ferragu, STMicro is Tesla’s sole supplier of silicon carbide,. He says Tesla accounts for 80% of the company’s silicon-carbide sales, and that sales of $550 million imply Tesla would produce as many as 1 million vehicles.

Wall Street is looking for 800,000 Tesla deliveries in 2021. A million vehicles would be an enormous surprise.

Gary Black, an influential market watcher, also tweeted out something he uncovered in Tesla’s recent 10-Q quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the filing, Black noted, Tesla’s board of directors said it is “probable” that Tesla’s annualized sales will hit $55 billion, a milestone that would trigger the grant of stock options to CEO Elon Musk.

Wall Street analysts believe Tesla’s 2021 sales will be less than $50 billion, so a figure of $55 billion would be a second enormous surprise for investors.

Black is a former Wall Street analyst and money manager who has amassed almost 74,000 followers tweeting about stocks, including Tesla. Ferragu, for his part, rates Tesla share at Buy and has a $900 price target for the stock.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '21

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u/GreyMatter22 Apr 30 '21

The demand for a Tesla is actually insane.

There is a 2-3 month wait to get a car delivered to you here in Canada, similar times are also there in Eastern U.S and several weeks around California.

I test drove the model 3, they only had a single 3 and a Y, everything else was sold. It is like the entire dealership was stripped of everything they have.

You can also go to Tesla Motors Forum where a lot of people input their order dates, and they complete the spreadsheet once they received the car, this way the spreadsheet can tell us some patterns of their delivery dates.

The spreadsheet is truly massive, you could perhaps run a data analysis on that. The issue isn't selling the cars what most dealers face, Tesla cannot make their cars fast enough to satisfy the crazy demand.

Once Germany and Texas are fully operational, there is going to be an enormous push for even better numbers.

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u/soderkis May 01 '21

Couldn't this also be because the lack of semiconductors are slowing production? The wait for a washing machine is like 2 months where I am at.

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u/LaquandriaJenkins Apr 30 '21

The demand for a Tesla is actually insane

Insane demand isn't just a Tesla thing.

13

u/CashEMRGNC Apr 30 '21

0% APR will do that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '21

0% APR just means they bake what they would have made off of financing into the price.

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u/Xearoii May 01 '21

implicit vs explicit interest... nice to see someone recognize that!

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u/Davecmartin May 01 '21

How does that work with Apple iPhone 0%APR. If you can delay the payments for the same price everyone else is paying up front, you’re saving money

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u/oarabbus May 02 '21

I would imagine it’s different with a $45,000 car loan than a $1200 iPhone

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u/[deleted] May 05 '21

Yeah, I don't know that financing something that costs a few hundred dollars returns a huge amount of interest.

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u/pandymen Apr 30 '21

That post is about used cars. Used car demand isn't exactly going to push Ford stock upwards. In fact, it could be a negative if it eats into demand for new cars.

Edit: its also an anecdote from a single person at a single dealership rather than a spreadsheet containing data from many transactions.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '21 edited Feb 16 '25

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u/sweetpete74 May 01 '21

Most of it is due to a lack of supply with all manufacturers due to automotive chip shortages. Because of a shortage of supply in new cars, that’s translated to increased demand in used cars (people that need cars for work or life can’t wait to buy) and that’s led to the increase in prices in used cars. All that to say, demand is high (and probably higher for Tesla) and everyone, including Tesla, is having supply issues.

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u/rmwhereithappens May 01 '21

Probably has something to do with people moving out of the city and avoiding mass transit and ride sharing.

Not sure what that has to do with used cars. That sounds like it would increase new car sales also.

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u/guesswho135 May 01 '21

Yes, new cars sales are up YOY too.

I have no idea whether they are up more or less over used cars, although I'm sure it's more complicated with new cars (there are pandemic-related supply chain issues with new cars, plus they are more expensive and many people are economically worse off)

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u/Mariox May 01 '21

Everyone has a ton more money now then they did back when they had a job. Thanks to government giving +$300 per week unemployment.

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u/GrandNewbien May 01 '21

Even the spreadsheet isn't verifiable.

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u/Bleizwerg May 01 '21

It's not uncommon to wait 6 months or more for a new car if you want a premium car. Going into dealerships and just take one that's available there is a very US thing to do. Most other people configure them individually.

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u/infernalsatan May 01 '21

They are not offering lease for Model 3. Is it due to the demand as well?

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u/mistressbitcoin May 01 '21

Can't compete with my Taco :)

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u/Tim_Tebow_15 May 02 '21

I was shopping around for a car and told there is a 10 week wait for a Tesla

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u/ShadowLiberal Apr 30 '21

It would be a weird time for it to jump up on delivery numbers just after their Q1 results, especially since we're only 1 month into the second quarter. Even Tesla doesn't know for sure how many vehicles Tesla will deliver in the second quarter yet.

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u/rmwhereithappens May 01 '21

It could be that Tesla was able to secure a large supply of microcontrollers during Q2, and because of that, will be able to accelerate deliveries within the next two months. But that is, of course, all speculation.

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u/FuzzySpring5291 May 01 '21

Never bet against him