News that Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has begun to manufacture its premium solar tiles it released nearly two years ago has sparked interest in yet another business unit of Tesla, a company which appears to be firing in multiple different directions, but not on all cylinders.
Pushing aside concerns about Model 3 production and looking primarily at the company's solar tile program, it becomes clearer that what Tesla is attempting to accomplish is much bigger than its EV base; becoming the world's biggest energy storage and provider of independent clean energy solutions to consumers is one which deserves applause and praise, but is a plan which is going to involve capital. A lot of capital.
Questions about where such capital is going to come from (the bond or equity markets) remains, however the company's plans for world domination in the "clean and green" space has invited investors to bring boatloads of money to Mr. Musk in the hopes that Tesla will become for this sector what Amazon is in e-commerce: a one-stop shop for everything.
Being everything to everyone certainly has its appeal for long-term investors hoping to cash in on what will, one day, be a profitable company. For those hoping to see some semblance of profitability before investing, I would recommend staying on the sidelines for quite some time.
Tesla is going to either be a monster, or split up into smaller companies to tackle the problems the company has set out to solve. I'm just not so sure the financial side of the business makes sense currently.
