Tuesday, October 29, 2019

"Tesla stock cut to sell at Roth, margins 'unsustainable'" (plus VW does a drive-by) TSLA

The stock is down $9.12 at $318.59  and VW is going to buy them.
(sorry, got carried away, thinking about the AAPL rumors that used to get floated by the so-called 'knowledgeable')
From MarketWatch:
Analysts at Roth Capital on Tuesday downgraded Tesla Inc. TSLA, -2.84% shares to sell, from their equivalent of hold, saying that they see the Silicon Valley car maker's margins as "unsustainable." Third-quarter filings show warranty adjustments and other one-time items as "a large driver of perceived strength," said the analysts, led by Craig Irwin. "We expect decelerating deliveries growth in 2020 to drive multiple compression....MORE
 Although VW's CEO, Herbert Diess, said some nice things about Tesla the other day, he's a PhD engineer and a fine example of something mentioned in 2010's "Berkshire May Be Required To Post Up To $8 Billion In Collateral" (BRK.A; BRK.B)":
...I think it was Boston University's Zvi Bodie* who, shrugging off the restraints of his MIT PhD, pointed out to the "expected return" crowd that if it were true that the risk of negative returns decreases as the time frame increases, the cost of long-term puts should decrease the farther out you go.
Kind of an Emperor has no clothes thing to say....
*William Bernstein (No slouch either, M.D. Neurologist, PhD. Chemistry, dabbler in Modern Portfolio Theory, Bestselling Author, etc.) in one of his Efficient Frontier pieces, "Zvi Bodie and the Keynes’ Paradox of Thrift" described the professor as "Academician, raconteur, and all-around good guy Zvi Bodie...".

Then he rips his lungs out. Very typical in the academy:...
That said, if VW were to make a move on TSLA it would probably be as much for batteries as for cars. The Germans are looking at having to make some hefty investments if they are to reach their electric vehicle goals
This post is from 2016:
Volkswagen To Invest Up To 10 Billion Euros In New Battery Factory

The most recent post we have is June's "Batteries: Volkswagen Leads €886 Million Investment in Northvolt" which followed May's "Volkswagen to Reshuffle $56bn Battery Push as Samsung Deal at Risk"