With short-buying interest in anything Elon surely up at record highs \u2013 and with headlines this week warning of imminent disaster (\u201cInvestors brace for worst Tesla result in 7 years\u201d), it\u2019s probs no shock the Tesla (TSLA) share price actually jumped by a goodly 13% overnight, following some of the EV maker\u2019s quasi-upbeat after-market numbers.<\/p>\n
Via Google<\/p>\n
The results certainly weren\u2019t the slow-mo autonomous driving crash Wall Street was waiting on.<\/p>\n
Gross margins landed nearly 100bps ahead of some fairly dull hopes, although revenue and Earnings Per Share (EPS) drifted south away from expectations.<\/p>\n
Tesla still sees a lower volume growth rate for 2024 and is looking to accelerate the launch of new tricks.<\/p>\n
And with EV\u2019s looking so 2023, Elon\u2019s all about the autonomous automobile.<\/p>\n\n
Tesla\u2019 Q1 2024 earnings call followed the Q1 2024 Update Letter, released after the closing bell\u00a0 on Wednesday in New York, (early this morning Sydenham time).<\/p>\n
Tesla posted total revenues of US$21.3 billion, with automotive revenues at $17.3 billion for the first quarter of 2024.<\/p>\n
The carmaker posted GAAP EPS of $0.34 for Q1 and $1.1 billion GAAP net income for the same period.<\/p>\n
The company appears to running on auto.<\/p>\n
And that may not be coincidence\u2026<\/p>\n
When not writing tweets on X about how X is not for tweeting, Elon\u2019s been pumping the need for cars with less drivers.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why, here\u2019s something which he had dropped directly on top of this morning\u2019s results:<\/p>\n
Preview of autonomous ride-hailing via Tesla app pic.twitter.com\/GPs5itjA84<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tesla (@Tesla) April 23, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n\n Bless his busy bosom, Elon\u2019s also been conspiring at full tilt to foist Full Self-Driving demos on new customers.<\/p>\n It does bring the many internet moments like this one to mind \u2013 however unproven and unreliable the sources and their suggestions may be\u2026<\/p>\n\n It\u2019d at the least have to be a little unnverving surely considering their body count to date, no matter how tempting for Tesla afficionados the no-longer-in-beta \u201csupervised\u201d version of Full Self-Driving is s\u2019posed to be.<\/p>\n Exactly what, how and why Musk\u2019s unwaverable determination to make autonomous robot\/cars central to Tesla\u2019s future will hopefully form some kind of shape later this year, the big reveal, he\u2019s said, is a mere four months hence, on August 8th, when he or Tesla or whoever\u2019s really in charge reveals the long-teased robotaxi.<\/p>\n Musk reportedly canceled plans to produce a more affordable $25,000 \u201cModel 2\u201d vehicle in favour of grabbing the tool bag and his Hobbitses and betting it all on robotaxis.<\/p>\n Morgan Stanley is not enthused.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are prepared to see evidence of improved system efficacy, we ultimately believe the path to commercialisation at scale for driverless cars is much further out than the market expects,\u201d MS analyst Adam Jonas says.<\/p>\n Part 1 of Plan B is already being revised rather astonishingly.<\/p>\n The price for Tesla\u2019s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software package was supposed to get more expensive over time \u2014 but instead, it\u2019s getting cheaper.<\/p>\n This despite somewhere in middle-March, Musk rallied the faithful and remaining troops by announcing the \u201cmind-blowing\u201d roll out of the Beta v12 Full Self-Driving (FSD) to customers.<\/p>\n Tesla was supposed to release v12 last year, but it was delayed. The automaker started to push the update in January, but only to a few customers.<\/p>\n The FSD Beta v12 was among Elon\u2019s more anticipated updates to TSLA\u2019s ADAS level 2 system, which it hopes will eventually become level 4 or even 5.<\/p>\n The v12 software update features one of Musk\u2019s more Trekkian claims \u2013 that it\u2019s bristling with \u201cend-to-end neural nets\u201d.<\/p>\n Elon\u2019s called the update a game-changer, but TBH, he\u2019s done that with a few fav topics before, FSD Beta updates being one of them.<\/p>\n It could be the cocaine of course, but apparently the change is \u201cmind-blowing\u201d.<\/p>\n Long-marketed as ultimately the home and heart of TSLA\u2019s real or fictional fully autonomous capabilities, (despite the feature\u2019s current limited status as a Level 2 driver-assist system) Mr Elon\u2019s just slashed the tyres on this baby.<\/p>\n Originally US$12,000, the feature can be yours in North America for just $8,000.<\/p>\n Tesla hasn\u2019t shared the most recent numbers of FSD take rates, but after this kind of Elon-style slash and burn sale, (it\u2019s a 30% drop in price), that number will soar.<\/p>\n Maybe he\u2019s Elon smarter than we thought.<\/p>\n Via TSLA<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A few weeks ago, Tesla also razored the FSD subscription price from US$199 to US$99 per month.<\/p>\n The advantage of a subscription for the customer is the flexibility in month-to-month flexibility. The downside of this is that you will be exposed to any future price changes in the subscription pricing.<\/p>\n Of course, even with the new subscription price, you\u2019s have to own your Tesla for at least six years and nine months for your subscription to start saving you what the current, bargain FSD price is.<\/p>\n That said, those cunning price cuts have allowed Elon some wriggle room on margin growth expectations around that segment, despite Musk repeatedly telling shareholders, barmen that the software package would only grow in value.<\/p>\n Probably to be worth US$100K and beyond. Very Cathie Wood of you, Elon.<\/a><\/p>\n In all reality \u2013 or the reality we know \u2013 the FSD price peaked back in \u201922 when it was happily hoisted to $15k before falling back to the original $12k.<\/p>\n Oh. And Musk\u2019s also nixxed the Enhanced Autopilot, the Tesla (US$6k) advanced driver-assist system.<\/p>\n Customers already with Enhanced Autopilot can go to hell.<\/p>\n Nah. As Teslarati \u2013 \u201ca multi-platform media company and leading lifestyle brand with a focus on Tesla, SpaceX, and ventures affiliated with Elon Musk\u201d, says \u2013 they can actuallyjust upgrade to FSD for $2,000.<\/p>\n An attractive cul de sac.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Can robot cars really save Tesla? Elon certainly sees the attraction<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cheap as (AI) chips<\/h2>\n
Pay as you go<\/h2>\n