Tesla shares jumped more than 10 percent Thursday after the company reported earnings for the second quarter.
Investors seemed to cheer the fact that the electric automaker burned through less cashー$739.5 million in Q2 compared to $1 billion the quarter beforeーand that CEO Elon Musk behaved himself: the billionaire began the earnings call by apologizing to analysts for his ["bad manners"](https://cheddar.com/videos/elon-musk-combative-with-analysts-may-have-a-point?utm_source=All+Subs&utm_campaign=5c55c38d33-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_01_06_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4b7ac66387-5c55c38d33-121269037) three months ago, which accelerated after-market gains in the stock.
Other positives from Tesla's earnings: the company said it expects to manufacture more than 6,000 of Model 3s a week by the end of the month and that most factories would be able to produce 10,000 cars a week by the end of the year.
That would be a big step toward achieving profitabilityーMusk has said that sustained production of the Model 3 is essential for increasing cash flow and cutting losses. The company ended the quarter with about $2.2 billion in cash on its balance sheet, suggesting it has just enough to get through the year.
Still, Tesla did post a bigger loss than expectedー$3.06 a share versus an estimated $2.92ーand Musk acknowledged the company would need to raise capital to fund its planned expansion to Shanghai.
In all, the company produced more than 53,000 carsーModel 3s, Model Ss, and Model Xsーduring the second quarter, and delivered almost 41,000 vehicles. It also took a restructuring charge for cutting its workforce by 9 percent.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/tesla-stocks-rise-after-earnings-report).
The six-month trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has come to an end with the former tech startup star found guilty of four out of 11 counts of fraud. Michael S. Weinstein, Esq, chair of the white collar criminal defense practice at Cole Schotz, and former Department of Justice trial attorney, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what happens next for the former mogul. "Do I think it's going to be more than five or seven years? Probably yes. I think that's probably a fair range at this point," he said about her potential prison sentence.
Elon Musk continues on his path to make a reusable rocket with his starship project, but it's not going to be easy. If successful, the rocket would heavily reduce launch costs, in addition to further developing Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service. Rick Tumlinson, founding partner at Space Fund, spoke to Cheddar News about the future of SpaceX.
We are just one day away from what has been called the most influential tech event in the world. CES 2022 will officially kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the annual tech summit is being impacted by COVID-19, like so many other recent events. The Consumer Technology Association originally planned for a hybrid event to take place from January 5-8, with some in-person events and some virtual; however, a few big-name companies announced they will not be attending in-person, so the CTA decided to shorten the event by one day, with it now ending on Friday. Consumer electronics senior analyst Will Greenwald joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Harry Yeh, Managing Director at Quantum Fintech Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why his firm has a target estimate of $400,000 for Bitcoin this year.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Like the big changeover to e-commerce for retail, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved car buying trends to the digital showroom. Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, joined Cheddar to talk about the "mindset shift" in consumers and businesses to order-based systems in the United States (something more common in other countries). While more than 60 percent of consumers still prefer to visit dealerships in-person, Brauer noted that consumers are better off ordering a car to spec, which would also help improve supply constraints. "It's really bad right now to be building cars and not really knowing who's going to buy them or when they're going to sell," he said. Manufacturing a car to order would maximize the efficiency of obtaining materials through the supply chain rather than "shotgunning it" at dealerships.
