*By Michael Teich* An analyst at investment firm Loup Ventures spent three days camping out at Tesla's Fremont factory and keeping tabs on what he saw. And what he surmised was that the electric automaker would likely produce between 4,300 and 4,900 Model 3 vehicles in the last week of June. If you're keeping track ー that’s below the 5,000 a week target set by CEO Elon Musk in January, marking the third time the company has fallen short of expectations for the mass-market car. But Loup managing partner Gene Munster isn't too worried. “It would be a miss for the quarter, but still a positive for the Tesla story,” he told Cheddar in an interview Wednesday. Wall Street's Tesla bears have raised flags about the company's rapid cash burn rate and have warned it will have to raise more money to fund Model 3 production, but if Tesla reaches 6,000 per week by the end of September, those betting against the company's stock could be in trouble. “If they scale Model 3, that should lead to being cash-flow positive in the December quarter, which is obviously the substance of the short story on Tesla,” said Munster. For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/gene-munster-tesla-will-fall-short-of-model-3-goals)

Share:
More In Business
Tech leader who navigated the internet’s 90s crash weighs in on AI
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Tesla sales jump after months of boycotts
Tesla reported a surprise increase in sales in the third quarter as the electric car maker likely benefited from a rush by consumers to take advantage of a $7,500 credit before it expired on Sept. 30. The company reported Thursday that sales in the three months through September rose 7% compared to the same period a year ago. The gain follows two quarters of steep declines as people turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics avoided buying his company’s cars and even protested at some dealerships. Sales rose to 497,099 vehicles, compared with 462,890 in the same period last year.
Load More