Tesla released a press release that says it exceeded its sales targets for Q1 and that it is amending its guidance to full profitability for Q1. 4750 sales vs 4500 expected.
http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-model-s-sales-exc…
I know that there was a thread going around about potentially 'funny' accounting based off of shipping more of the expensive 85kWh model instead of cheaper ones. Well, Tesla has announce it won't be producing the 40kWh model due to lack of demand.
Bloomberg link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-01/tesla-says-it-turned-profitabl…
I'll leave the real color for WhiteHat or whoever else, but it's really interesting that they cancel the smaller battery that doesn't run on the same cells as the other two, and on top of that announce an "Easter egg" that all cars will come with the supercharger hardware. It sounds to me like they had a set configuration on the line and it was the only way they were going to pump these things out at a cost and rate that would get them to profitability. I'm not a big fan of the way they conduct themselves by putting an arbitrary hurdle ahead of the company's actual operations. They effectively pushed back the "show me" quarter to Q2.
I'd bet my left nut that tomorrow Elon announces an enormous options exercise to give Tesla some much needed cash and book himself what's going to be an absolutely retarded profit if the pre-market is indicative of where the stock finishes today. Not a good day to be short if you can't hold on for the long-term, but I say if anything this strengthens the idea that this is a questionable business model.
edit.
Hope you didn't bet that left nut.
I would like to thank WhiteHat and his short position for paying next quarter's tuition. :)
But.... It is now time to short.
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