Tesla's "Reckless" Management Will Lead to Its Demise, Says Short-Seller
*By Michael Teich*
The entire market is in a bubble, according to Mark Spiegel, a short-seller at investment firm Stanphylーand Tesla may be the biggest one of all.
"It's a terrible business," he said in an interview on Cheddar Tuesday. "The financials are terrible and getting worse."
Tesla stock closed below $300 a share on Tuesday, its lowest level since early June. Shares are down 20 percent from their highs of the year. Spiegel thinks it's only a matter of time before the stock really crashes.
There's plenty to rattle investors. The company has burned through $8 billion in cash over the last four years and has more than $10 billion in debt. On Sunday, a report emerged that the company was asking for refunds from suppliers to help it turn a profit, though Tesla said it was only negotiating contracts on projects that were still active. And late Monday, the company said a top sales executive was leaving the company.
Spiegel said the recent string of executive departures is a sign of rising fatigue among insiders. He also said Elon Musk is partially to blame, calling his leadership reckless and describing the CEO as an "incredibly deceptive guy."
"He thinks you have to be as smart as he is to see through his BS. When in fact you don't have to be, you can just fact check."
One potentially problematic area, for SpiegelーTesla's self-driving cars, which he says aren't nearly as safe as CEO Elon Musk would like.
"Their autonomous driving tech is way behind," he added. "What they put on the road ... does more than what other people are willing to put on the road"
Tesla will report its second quarter earnings on August 1.
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjA5NzM=).
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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