Tesla Inc (TSLA)

A name that most serious investors don’t take seriously. Thinks we will look back at this and wonder why we haven’t been accumulating for the future. Extremely innovative. Thinks this is going to be like the iPod was 6-7 years ago. He is accumulating this on the margin. There is no perfect time to be buying this. Take very small baby steps with a maximum weighting of about 2.5%, (maybe 1%, 1% followed by 0.5%) and see how it goes over the next couple of months.

Having your engine in the car is inefficient. They think you are better off creating the power in a plant, say a solar power plant, and then distribute that power into a battery in the car. The upside is not based on the fundamentals. He just believed in the car and the founder when he bought it a few years ago. When they get the model III car out in a few years it will complete with the BMW 3 series in price. TSLA-O cars will be cheaper to produce when they get the cost of the batteries down, than the BMW. They will have a higher margin.

Done a great job of bringing the electric car to the market. The collapse in oil does not help them. The car costs $60-$80k and so the average person does not buy it. If you want the world to move to this type of car you have to make it more affordable. They may come out with a $35k car and if they sell those in volume they could do well.

Wouldn't want to own this for the longer term. At 73X next year's earnings, as great as this company is, it is not the kind of stock he would want to own long-term. Way too pricey for him.

Time will tell if this is affordable for the masses. If they could come down to $50k for the price of their vehicles, then it would appeal to the masses. In 20 years the world will look a lot different in terms of cars. The stock will have to go down another 10% still.

He could not look at this one because it does not earn any money. It is a headline and momentum stock. There is no way a value investor could consider owning this one.

He has a very strong answer on this one. DO NOT BUY THIS STOCK! You could lose a lot of money. An extremely expensive stock. Look at what happened to Ballard Power (BLD-T) around 2000. At the end of the day fuel cells are a niche business. Thinks you will make money Shorting it.

(Top Pick Sep 4/13, Up 49.07%) Sold it after making a bit of money. It was just after three cars blew up. They are going to revolutionize the car industry. He is not against buying speculatively.

This is a tough one. He wouldn’t be Short the stock right now, even though valuations are through the roof. They produce as many cars right now in a year as General Motors (GM-N) produces in a day, and yet the stocks are valued at the same level. This is the future of automobiles, so how willing are you to pay up on a valuation basis to own this right now. They have generated some profits now, but if you start pulling away the subsidies and government grants, they are clearly not profitable. Thinks that people are going to be willing to pay up for a long time for the potential that they have.

For him, this is too much of a concept story, and too highly valued. This is a stock where you either believe things are going to pan out the way the company thinks, or you don’t believe. This is a car company that created an awesome sports sedan that happens to be electric. Electric cars have proven to be a very tough business.

Would put this in the category of almost like a concept. Generally speaking, the electric car market is going to become more competitive. This one is clearly the early mover and the leader, but there is a lot of optimism baked into the valuation. Company has a $26 billion market cap and expected to sell 35,000 cars next year which comes out to about a $750,000 valuation per car.

He tried to understand the battery. Once you get over the function of how they finance the battery plant, it is interesting. Trading at about 12 times revenue and they are a long, long way away from making money. The profitability of an electric car is also a function of the cost of power to put into it. As you start to adopt new technology such as Nat Gas or electricity, the price of the technology falls. At these kinds of prices it is pretty lofty.

Move today has nothing to do with the company. Great company, great future, but trades at a high multiple.

It seems to be working out. They are direct sellers of cars. He favours this one. Beautiful cars. It is speculative.

He really hopes this company succeeds. Driving electric cars is a fabulous idea. This company manufactures about 30,000 cars each year while GM sells about 3 million cars a year. The company is trading at 1,118X forward earnings. You have to remember that there is a difference between a terrific company and a terrific stock. (See Top Picks.)