I bought 10 shares in this at $228 last year and didn't think anything would come of it in the short term. Target price for 5 years already smashed and still holding on

That's putting it quite figuratively meteorite and dinosours

Yes no doubt that Tesla EV cars are revolutionary and way ahead of competition but caveat is that Tesla most times sells its cars at a loss.

Tesla made and delivered more cars in the second quarter of 2019 than it did in any other quarter in company history, but still lost $408 million, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They suffered an even bigger $702 million loss posted in the first quarter of 2019.Most times they suffer from negative Free Cash Flow (FCF).Look at the appalling losses and meagre profits that the meteorite Tesla makes on selling cars vs the dinosaur other competitors per quarter.



They had been a loss making company for many years with only recently earning a profit largely from sale of EV credits.




Since Tesla cars don't emit hydrocarbons,they have a massive EV credit that they sell to internal combustion car makers so that the latter can avoid even larger taxes for selling cars that emit hydrocarbons.Also they raise lots of their capital from issuing junk debt and interest rate on the US junk bond market is artificially suppressed (as is the rest of the entire US interest rate environment) by the Fed money printing to push rates down and supply cheap money to the economy thus keep zombie companies that cannot be solvent at higher normal interest rates alive.The US junk bond market-like the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) of the housing bubble of early 2000s has already started showing signs of distress hence the current massive Fed liquidity injections to prevent an implosion of the corporate bond market similar to collapse of MBS market in the 2008 financial crisis.Also,lots of Tesla bears short sellers believe Tesla's financials are cooked and could be a ponzi scheme like Enron and the long term prospects at least in terms of financials is dire and the company stock could collapse to zero.Billionaire major Tesla short like Jim Chanos on image above and other famous Tesla short sellers like Andrew Left believe the business model of Tesla isnt sustainable as per financials.

One also shouldn't forget the controversial mercurial nature of Elon Musk calling an analyst "bonehead" during a conference call;misleading investors by pumping up the stock last year by tweeting the infamous "funding secured" whereby he was almost forced out as CEO and was compelled to pay a 20 million fine for the tweet.Also he openly smoked marijuana on a major podcast in what most investors felt was unbecoming of a CEO of a major US company.



It is this paradox of Tesla ie great prospects for EV innovation vs crappy possibly fraudulent financials that make it the most emotive stock in the US equity market with fanatical bulls and bears at each other's throats hence the wild price action swings.



It remains to see if Tesla unravels like Enron or becomes an icon to be revered in the future.


Thus is Tesla a Prodigy or a Ponzi?The future will decide this

Tesla is the quintessential "meme stock" Once it's on the move,don't kvetch,throw the fundamentals out the window,go out on a limb and ride the tide.Just don't be caught holding the bag when the music stops.

Oh the Tesla hype but other car manufacturers are coming up and may give Tesla a run for its money



No doubt Tesla will go down as one of the most fascinating stocks and firms in history.Fanatical stock with billionaires backing both the long and short side and the most shorted stock in the US stock market.Lets see if it collapses like Enron or becomes an icon like the once Ford Motors (when Ford was an icon decades ago and now its a bogus basketcase).