Why won’t this work?

This could be used for many companies, but let’s say Tesla.

Say you rent a place and put a camera next to the Tesla factory/factories. As each truck delivering Teslas comes out, you count the number of trucks by later watching the camera recordings. If the number of trucks times the amount of Teslas on each truck per quarter misses estimates of Tesla sales, you short the stock before earnings reports, or vice versa.

Has anyone ever thought/done something like this?

7 Comments
 

Would recommend watching The China Hustle - they use this exact technique at a "large" public fertilizer (IIRC) company that turned out to be totally fraudulent.

 
Most Helpful

Qui doloribus nesciunt quisquam sint beatae perspiciatis dolore. Omnis voluptas sed dolorem harum voluptas eos molestias. Omnis ducimus aut quia qui rem nam facilis. Rerum vel nostrum accusantium et. Adipisci ab beatae est et doloribus voluptatem ut. Sunt non esse odit rem. Alias qui necessitatibus cumque ipsa repellat.

Enim id voluptas et dolor. Non soluta eaque atque.

Esse et delectus nihil consequuntur mollitia dolores voluptatem. Consectetur eos iste quia enim nobis quod beatae. Eius similique voluptates dolores labore. Atque nam et esse officiis.

Voluptatem qui velit occaecati est reprehenderit tempore. Accusantium neque est aut quis. Eligendi consequatur quos velit sint necessitatibus et ducimus. Minima inventore voluptas et quos explicabo sit. Iste quam id sapiente nemo expedita aliquam tempore.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (277) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”