This week, electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced earnings, and much to the surprise of wall street analysts and investors everywhere, shocked the market with what turned out to be very impressive results.
The automaker beat on nearly every metric imaginable, boosting production to record levels and delivering staggering cash flow and profit at a time when many bears were unwavering in their belief that Tesla would run out of cash soon and be forced to raise money via the debt and/or equity market in the near future.
While I remain a bear on Tesla stock, for many reasons, this earnings announcement is certainly a very interesting one to digest from the perspective of someone who has been critical of this company's progress for some time. On the one hand, if Tesla's results really were that good, and this is the floor of what investors should expect moving forward in terms of growth, then perhaps all the bears out there need to rethink their thesis.
On the other hand, it may be the case that regardless of one excellent quarter on paper, the company will need to start paying its current expenses, and some of the numerous lawsuits which have been filed against Tesla may begin to rear their hefty litigation costs, forcing the company into the corner it was trying to avoid - the one that involves raising capital.
Whatever the case, Tesla stands as a company which is not willing to go down without a fight, and the firm's CEO remains hellbent on "burning the shorts," making such a play a very risky one, even for high profile short sellers like Steve Eisman who usually get it right. Timing these things is a whole other ball game, and for obvious reasons, I remain on the sidelines with this one.
Invest wisely, my friends.
