TSLA - Tesla, Inc.
226.50 -0.33 (-0.15%)
After hours: 7:56PM EDT
| Previous Close | 219.94 |
| Open | 224.21 |
| Bid | 226.93 x 1300 |
| Ask | 226.75 x 1200 |
| Day's Range | 221.70 - 227.83 |
| 52 Week Range | 176.99 - 379.49 |
| Volume | 5,311,748 |
| Avg. Volume | 9,938,439 |
| Market Cap | 40.631B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 0.33 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -3.85 |
| Earnings Date | Oct 22, 2019 - Oct 28, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | N/A |
| 1y Target Est | 248.50 |
- TipRanks
Why You Should Keep Tesla (TSLA) and W.W. Grainger (GWW) Stocks on Your Sell List
Tesla (TSLA) and W.W. Grainger (GWW) are like those drivers motoring down the highway with the ever-blinking turn signal. Those following along behind are left wondering if that turn will ever come. Wall Street analysts clearly don't see any turnaround in these stocks. Let’s take a closer look. Slam on the Brakes with Tesla StockInvestors don’t have a lot to be excited about when it comes to the electric car manufacturer.Tesla has a history of overpromising and underdelivering, with the Street more willing to look past this as the company offered innovative and exciting technology. Now, Wall Street wants to see results that suggest a strong long-term growth narrative. Based on Tesla's second-quarter results, investors aren’t going to get what they’re looking for.Specifically, the earnings release revealed that losses were much larger than originally expected. Non-GAAP loss came in at $1.12 per share falling well below the $0.16 consensus estimate. Not to mention Tesla managed to burn through $333 million in cash, all while the company delivered a record breaking 158,000 vehicles.Based on the current economic climate, the situation could get worse for Tesla. If fears are correct and the economy heads into a recession, oil prices could plummet as they’ve done in the past. This would have a drastic effect on TSLA as one of the key benefits of electric vehicles is being able to avoid high gas prices.Joseph Spak, a five-star analyst according to TipRanks, doesn’t see gross margins improving anytime soon. He argues that TSLA’s profitability is tied to its full self-driving product, but the development team has experienced a high turnover rate. The company also can’t sell the product in the EU as regulation prohibits the feature.“So growth is likely to be on hiatus and we don't believe the valuation reflects this. That said, if there are material further price cuts, demand might be higher, but this would weigh on profitability,” Spak added. As a result, the RBC Capital analyst reiterated his Sell rating and $190 price target, as believes the stock could drop 16% over the next twelve months.All in all, most of Wall Street is growing impatient with this electric player’s stumbles, as TipRanks analytics demonstrate TSLA as a Sell. Based on 27 analysts polled in the last 3 months, 7 suggesting 'buy', 6 recommending 'hold,' while 14 advising 'sell.' Interestingly, the 12-month average price target stands at $245.62, which marks about 8% upside from where the stock is currently trading. (See TSLA’s price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks) W.W. Grainger Stock Is Out of Favor on Wall StreetWhile the industrial supply company is slightly up year-to-date, Wall Street takes a firmly bearish stance on Grainger. With 3 Sell ratings received over the last three months, the consensus among analysts is that the stock is a ‘Strong Sell’.GWW’s Q2 performance was better than originally expected thanks to lower prices and volumes, but the company by no means went above and beyond with EPS matching the consensus estimate. Analysts originally expected poor earnings after weak results from its competitors, Fastenal and MSC Industrial. GWW also decreased its full year 2019 sales guidance to be between 2% and 5% year-over-year growth, down from the original 4% to 8.5% growth estimate.Despite GWW typically using a third of its operating cash flow to improve its base business, analysts are not seeing the level of growth they would like.4-star RBC Capital analyst Deane Dray adds, “Grainger has little pricing power in a low-inflation environment and is vulnerable at negative inflection points in the economy, given its short-cycle, no-backlog distribution model.”It doesn’t help that the Amazon Business service is now available in at least seven major international markets. Amazon Business poses a significant threat to Grainger’s Cromwell segment in the UK and Europe as well as Grainger’s 51% stake in Japan-based MonotaRO. Cromwell and MonotaRO account for 3% and 7%, respectively, of GWW’s total sales.Dray concludes that GWW is unlikely to meet its target long-term growth rate. “Looking ahead, the guidance cut to 2019 sales and lowered market growth assumptions point to a tougher second half of 2019 operating backdrop, and Grainger’s 300-400 bps of outgrowth assumption appears optimistic to us. Short-cycle industrials like Grainger look vulnerable here,” the analyst explained.Based on all of the above factors, the analyst reiterated his Sell rating and lowered the price target from $257 to $254, indicating 7% downside. (To watch Dray's track record, click here)
- Market Realist
Why GM Stock Slumped 6.6% Last Week
General Motors slumped 6.6% from August 12 to August 16. GM stock wasn't the only one to plunge in the week. Other auto stocks also sank.
- InvestorPlace
3 Tech Stocks to Avoid (or Sell) for Now
In general, equity markets represent investor confidence. Since late July, most tech stocks have been declining amidst the bearish sentiment in the global and United States markets. It is no secret that the Chinese economy is beginning to feel the effects of the ongoing trade war. Other global powers, such as Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union, led by Germany and France, are also showing signs of a slowdown. And earlier in the week, Argentina spooked the Latin American markets when its currency and equity markets lost a third of their value overnight.In other words, unless we have a swift resolution on the trade war front, spending by the U.S. consumer may not be enough to improve economic prospects globally.Therefore, investors are wondering what may be next for many of the tech stocks in their portfolios. Today, I'd like to discuss three tech stocks to avoid in the second half of August and possibly in September, too. These stocks are Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 10 Cyclical Stocks to Buy (or Sell) Now Investors may consider waiting on the sidelines if they do not currently have any positions open in these tech stocks. If they already own shares, they may either consider taking some money off the table during this market bounce or hedging their positions. As for hedging strategies, covered calls or put spreads with Sep 20 expiry could be appropriate as straight put purchases are likely to be expensive due to heightened volatility.With all of that in mind, let's dive a little deeper into each of these stocks. Stocks to Sell: Baidu (BIDU)Source: testing / Shutterstock.com Notable Risks: Valuation, questions about growth, trade wars and broader tech market weaknessPossible Price Range: $85-$105During the past year, the BIDU stock price is down 55%. On Sep. 21, 2018, the shares saw a 52-week high of $234.88. Now, Baidu stock is hovering around $95. Clearly, the bears have taken control of the tape.What is the main reason for the deterioration of Baidu's market cap? Investors fear that the company's growth narrative does not hold any more.BIDU has two sources of revenue: * Internet advertising business (which is at the core); and * Income from majority ownership in iQiyi (NASDAQ:IQ)The tech market in China has grown exponentially in the last decade. And Baidu stock has been able to ride that wave. Baidu has over 70% of the Chinese online search market share. Until about a year ago, this leadership has meant growing advertising revenues and solid margins.However, that is not the case anymore. Competitors like Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent (OTCMKTS:TCEHY) have been pressuring its business model and ad revenues. Many Chinese consumers are using apps that bypass browsers and thus Baidu's search engine. In other words, BIDU stock's desktop search business is being disrupted or even displaced.Wall Street is not sure if management knows how to go after the challenge to Baidu's core business. The company has increased spending to attract more advertisers, which in turn has affected margins. In other words, the company spends a lot of cash to make some money.Furthermore, as the Chinese economy slows down, all these companies chase the same advertisers, who have been scaling down ad budgets.The second factor adversely affecting Baidu's top-line growth comes from its ownership of iQiyi, the so-called Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) of China. Baidu still owns roughly two-thirds of iQiyi, so IQ's results and its growth are reflected in Baidu's consolidated numbers. And iQiyi stock is not making any money at this point either.Management at iQiyi has underlined that as the company further invests in technology and builds content, the cost of revenue would be high -- therefore the company will not be profitable any time soon.And when you add the uncertainty around trade wars, it may just not be fashionable to buy BIDU shares in 2019. Overall, the bull thesis supporting BIDU stock is falling apart. It would be important to analyze the next earnings report expected in November to see if Baidu stock has a better investment proposition for long-term investors.From a time and price analysis perspective, I'd expect BIDU stock to reach a 52-week low around Sept. 21. Until then, I'd not get too bullish on Baidu shares. Roku (ROKU)Source: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com Notable Risks: Profit-taking, rich valuation and broader tech market weaknessPossible Price Range: $135-$155ROKU stock has been on a tear this year. Year-to-date, Roku shares are up 135%. However, it might now be time for investors to become cautious.With a market cap of $11.7 billion, Roku stock is the largest over-the-top streaming content provider in the U.S. On Sept. 17, 2018, ROKU stock hit a 52-week high at $198.23.U.S. consumers are fast moving from traditional pay-TV services to streaming delivery services. Advertisers are following those viewers. That's reason number one why, longer-term, I would not bet against Roku shares whose revenue increasingly comes from advertising. However, there is likely to be some further profit-taking in ROKU stock in the next few weeks.Roku has been a pioneer in streaming video gadgets. The company's revenue can be divided into two segments: "Player" which represents sales of its digital media boxes and "Platform" which includes advertising sales, licensing and other non-hardware revenue sources.At present, Roku and Hulu, the video streaming service that is majority-owned by Disney (NYSE:DIS), are the market leaders in over-the-top advertising. OTT ads are shown on a TV screen through a smart TV or streaming device.Roku is a growth stock, but it's also a speculative one. Long-term ROKU bulls happily highlight many of Roku's competitive advantages, starting with the platform's first-mover advantage in OTT advertising, share of smart TVs sold in the U.S. and projected annual growth of over 30% in the rapidly expanding over-the-top streaming market.On the other side of the coin are the nervous investors and short-sellers who are looking for any excuse to short ROKU stock. If Roku cannot keep up with the aggressive growth assumptions, then shareholders may become more concerned with low profits as well as its margins and the stock price could easily suffer. In other words, could ROKU stock price be getting ahead of itself? * 8 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy Now No Matter What Therefore, I'd encourage retail investors to exercise caution with Roku stock until the next earnings report, expected in October. Tesla (TSLA)Source: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock.com Notable Risks: Fundamentals, profit-taking, trade wars and broader tech market weaknessPossible Price Range: $180-$230When Tesla released worse-than-expected second-quarter 2019 earnings on July 24, many investors possibly ended up with more questions than answers on what to expect from Tesla stock for the rest of the year.Before reporting earnings, TSLA stock closed at $264.88. The next morning it opened at $234.50. Now Tesla stock price is hovering around the $220-$225 range.Investors usually can get a sense of any current and future problems by looking at operational and market performance as well as at basic financial metrics and cash flow. In Tesla's case, we may have a combination of signs of difficulty.The past year has seen the demand for electric vehicles decline in the U.S. And Tesla's Model 3 sales have not been at the levels expected.Tesla's Q2 results showed that the gross margin of its automotive segment is declining. Last quarter, it was 20.2%. In Q4 and Q3 of 2018, the metric was 24.3% and 25.8%, respectively.The main reason behind the decline of the company's gross margin is that Tesla's sales mix is increasingly shifting from higher-priced S and X models to the Model 3. Model 3, which is priced at $35,000 is an entry-level car that carries lower margins.As we discuss Tesla's problems, we have to mention that the auto sector is susceptible to the trade-war risk. As the demand in the U.S. declines, Tesla needs to achieve increased sales numbers from overseas, namely China, the largest electric vehicle market in the world.In late 2017, Tesla and the Chinese government agreed that the company would manufacture cars in China, and build and own a factory in Shanghai.TSLA is continuing to build its manufacturing plant in Shanghai. However, the details as to when actual production will begin at the plant is sketchy. Tesla is yet to release definite dates and production goals for the plant.At this point, TSLA stock has had several months of poor performance, both in terms of metrics and the stock price. Therefore, before committing any capital into the shares, I'd like to see the next earnings statement, expected in late October. By then, we might even have an earnings warning statement, which would send the stock even further south.At this point, Tesla bears have the upper hand and I'd consider investing in TSLA stock as a speculative bet.As of this writing, Tezcan Gecgil did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post 3 Tech Stocks to Avoid (or Sell) for Now appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace
Nio Stock Is Temporarily Broken, But It’s Worth the Risk
The idea of electric cars is not new. In fact, they date back to the 1880's. Over the decades there have been several pushes to popularize them but most efforts had so far fizzled. That is until recently, where Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has made e-cars mainstream. And now other companies are joining the movement, including a Chinese manufacturer called Nio (NYSE:NIO). In spite of the popularity of e-cars, those who owned either TSLA or NIO stock this year are in a world of hurt.Source: Shutterstock The good news is that the global consensus now is that electric cars are here to stay. And that they are a credible threat to the internal combustion engine. While only time will tell, there is a noticeable adoption rate and it seems exponential. We all know at least one person with an electric vehicle or someone thinking about buying one. So the market is viable and that answers the biggest uncertainty in the bullish thesis.Nio stock is struggling, but today's point is that it may just be temporary. If I still own the shares this is not the time to give up on them. Furthermore, this could be a good time to bet on a reversal of fortune for the Nio stock price. The last tactical trade that I was eyeing late July failed to materialize.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsThe company got its biggest exposure in the U.S. last year when the TV show 60 Minutes aired a special on it. Consequently Nio stock spiked to $10 per share, but once again, it failed to hold that level. Since then, the stock fell as much as 78% from that high to the low, and it is now slightly above that. Nio Stock Needs Time to HealSo now the bulls are left wondering how low can Nio stock go? Zero, is the answer, but that is true for any stock. So the more constructive question is: How high can the stock go? In other words, does Nio, the company, have a future in the electric car market?Yes, it does. * 10 Undervalued Stocks With Breakout Potential So far, Nio seems to be doing as well as the rest of them. The easy way to illustrate this is to compare its stock price to that of Tesla. Over the last year they have moved in tandem. So this suggests that the stock is broken but the company's prospects and fundamentals are not. And if that's true, then all Nio stock really needs is time to heal.But management could help the cause along by stemming the slide in sales trends. Unlike TSLA which is growing its unit sales, NIO's monthly deliveries are going south. The next earnings report will be pivotal on that front.Meanwhile, the benefit of having Nio stock fall so far from the high is that it's so close to zero that it makes for a small risk with big potential reward. At $3 per share, it makes for an easy debt for the long-term. This is a stock that I would buy and forget about for years or until it spikes. If the e-car market flourishes, then Nio stock is likely to recover most of its past glory.It is also important to note that based on the headlines, the Chinese car market in general is struggling. So this is further testament to the fact that this is not a Nio problem, but rather a industry-swoon. First, you have to consider the general Chinese car industry and, second, the electric car market.This too shall pass. For those who still haven't booked their losses in it, it's perhaps too late to sell this low. * 7 Great Small-Cap Stocks to Buy There's not a lot to discern from the chart other than it looks like grim death. But Nio stock has been setting higher lows for almost two months. In addition it is also setting lower highs and that means the price range is tightening into a fine point. These usually result in big moves, but where it's headed is unknown.What makes this interesting is that this is the same area of the 12 months point-of-control. So from a bull/bear debate, this is where they like to fight it out the most and this creates congestion. So in theory, the bulls have an the advantage and they could break out from this descending wedge.It is entirely possible for the Nio stock price to reach $4 sooner rather than later. There would be resistance there and at every past ledge. But those are also potential triggers for more upside.While this write-up sounds bullish, it is imperative to remember that it's up to the Nio bulls to prove that this company is worth it. So I consider this a highly speculative trade and one that has low odds of success. But the lower the odds, the bigger the potential the rewards. And at $3 per share, it's a relatively small risk that is worth the effort.Last week, the entire stock market took a beating on recession fears. So if this week the headlines cooperate, then Nio stock could start that bounce rally along with a rallying stock market.Nicolas Chahine is the managing director of SellSpreads.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Join his live chat room for free here. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post Nio Stock Is Temporarily Broken, But It's Worth the Risk appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Benzinga
LiDAR Company Velodyne Sues Chinese Firms For Patent Infringement
LiDAR — light detection and ranging scanning — is a form of remote sensing technology that sends out laser pulses, which bounce off objects in front of it, helping the instrument to measure the size and distance of objects for creating a three-dimensional model of the environment. Within the autonomous driving circle, the use of LiDAR has been a topic of debate.
- Market Realist
What Tesla’s Solar Relaunch Means for Its Business
In a series of tweets yesterday, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk announced the company is relaunching its solar roof, letting customers rent the product.
- TipRanks
Billionaire Izzy Englander Cuts Loose in Amazon (AMZN) and Nio, Inc. (NIO) Stocks
There comes a time for every hedge fund manager when he simply must drop a stock. Not every investment makes money, and the fund manager’s prime directive is to bring in returns for his investors.This is where Izzy Englander can be trusted. The founder of Millennium Management got his professional start in trading in 1977, and established his hedge fund in 1989 with an initial investment of $35 million. After a rough start in the business, Millennium has been wildly successful and now holds over $37 billion in assets under management.So, when Izzy Englander’s hedge sells off a major holding, pay attention.The most recent 13F filing shows that Millennium sold 64,650 shares of Amazon (AMZN) in the last quarter, along with 1,871,684 shares of Nio (NIO), a Chinese electric car company. Amazon is a household name; Nio, not so much. Let’s dive into these two stocks, and find out why Millennium sold down its positions.I’ve Got an Electric Car to Sell You in ChinaOnce billed as “China’s Tesla,” Nio (NIO) is one of nearly 500 electric car companies in China, but more importantly, one of the very few that trades publicly. The company follows an odd business model – while it designs and markets its own vehicles, production is outsourced to state-owned factories. It’s a common practice in China, but it does cut into profit margins. That margin cut is probably the least of Nio’s problems.Higher up on the problem list are the regular losses the company continues to report. This is considered normal for small start-ups, but it still means that investors will have to wait a while to see a return. And that while may turn out pretty long; while analysts are predicting 130% top line growth this year, and 90% growth next year, the analysts don’t expect to see positive earnings until mid-2021 at the earliest. That could, perhaps, be swallowed – but Nio also carries $1.35 billion in debt with only $1.12 billion cash in the bank.And even that might not be the worst of Nio’s problems. This past July, the company delivered only 837 cars. The poor production came after the company had to recall nearly 5,000 of its ES8 SUVs, an action prompted by multiple battery fire incidents.On the positive side, Nio took the initiative in addressing the problem, and solved the battery issues faster than anticipated. Analysts now expect the company to deliver between 2,000 and 2,500 vehicles this month. That’s all good, but July was a warning – no car company can simply shrug off a month like that.That said, there are several factors unique to Nio’s Chinese environment. China’s economy is growing, but the rate of growth is slowing, and structural problems in the debt and real estate sectors do not bode well. There is real demand in China for electric cars, but with hundreds of companies in the marketplace the competition is cutthroat. Nio holds only 2% market share.With all of this, it’s no wonder that Millennium sold 97% of its NIO shares. Still, at least one Wall Street analyst, Bin Wang from Credit Suisse, sees NIO as a buying opportunity. Citing a recent investment in the company by E-Town Capital, Wang writes, “The key catalyst going forward is the successful finalization of E-Town's investment of Rmb10 bn in 'NIO China' to relieve investors' cash flow concerns. We expect management to provide some guidance on this in the upcoming 2Q19 results conference call in end-August.”Overall, however, NIO’s analyst consensus rating remains a Sell. The average price target, $3, suggests a slight 1.3% downside from the current share price of $3.04. (See NIO's price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks)A Successful Company with Headwinds BrewingAmazon (AMZN) presents a very different investing landscape than NIO, and Millennium treated the share sell-off differently, too. For starters, the hedge fun only sold 38% of its holdings; Millennium still owns more than 100,000 shares of AMZN, worth over $181 million dollars.To start with, the near term is growing a bit more uncertain for the e-commerce giant. A combination of increasing competition, slowing cloud sector growth, and a lack of successful new initiatives may hamper the company moving forward.Amazon was the early adopter in the e-commerce realm, and so benefited from a wide-open playing field. These days, however, every retail company is developing an online presence, sometimes using Amazon as a platform, but sometimes challenging the giant. Walmart (WMT), especially, has been developing an online retail arm with the specific aim of challenging Amazon.E-commerce, however, is not the only crowded sector. In the cloud computer sector, Amazon Web Services has been generating a large part of the parent company’s profit, but Microsoft (MSFT) 365 is backed by the resources of the world’s most valuable public company and AWS will have a hard time maintaining market share.Finally, most of Amazon’s projects in recent years have turned out less profitable than the company would like to admit. The Whole Foods purchase, the online drug store, and the attempted move into health insurance all failed to bring the promised returns, while Amazon’s business in India is recording losses. The company is successful and profitable in its two core businesses, e-commerce and AWS, it’s not about to go under, but it’s having trouble gaining traction in other initiatives.So, it may be fair to say that Millennium’s reduction in its Amazon holding was more of an adjustment – the hedge fund is hedging its bets.The Street’s top analysts, however, still see AMZN as a stock to buy. Both Wolfe’s Scott Mushkin and Jefferies’ Brent Thill put a $2,300 price target on AMZN shares, suggesting a 26% upside potential. (To watch the analysts' track record, click here)In his comments, Mushkin sums up the bullish case saying, “It is not out of character for AMZN to prioritize sales growth over profit when it has the opportunity to improve the customer experience. While the near-term profitability outlook is more subdued, we think it is reflective of the current investment cycle, and our long-term outlook for AMZN’s earnings power is largely unchanged.”All in all, Wall Street’s confidence backing this tech giant is strong, with TipRanks analytics showcasing AMZN as a Strong Buy. Based on 31 analysts polled in the last 3 months, all 31 rate the stock a Buy. Meanwhile, the 12-month average price target stands at $2,284.31, marking a nearly 25% upside from where the stock is currently trading.
- InvestorPlace
NIO Could Be Worth Betting on at Below $3
NIO (NYSE:NIO) scared off investors when it posted July deliveries that underwhelmed the markets. This sent the stock firmly below the $3.00, a level that could have found support. Instead, NIO stock price traded recently at $2.82.Source: Shutterstock Investors will have to wait for the next two weeks before either committing to the stock or dumping it at a loss. NIO is scheduled to report earnings before the market open on Aug. 27. NIO Stock Fell After Weak July DeliveriesNIO reported that deliveries totaled 837 vehicles in July, consisting of 673 ES6s and 164 ES8s. As investors will recall, the ES6 is a 5-seater premium electric SUV. The ES8 is a 7-seater but also comes in a 6-seater variant.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 10 Stocks Under $5 to Buy for Fall Cumulative deliveries for both models reached 19,727. The company blamed a voluntary battery recall and deliveries pushed forward into June for the weaker numbers. China's unfavorable macroeconomic and auto market conditions remained challenging for NIO. Needless to say, the U.S.-China trade conflict hurt sales. To top it off, NIO faced a declining trend: the drop in passenger vehicle sales on a year over year basis for 13 of the last 14 months.NIO is optimistic that the ES8 battery recall will improve user confidence. With safety and quality assured, the brand will still have a strong reputation that resonates with its customer. NIO is free to turn its attention back to promoting stronger sales.Now that the battery capacity allocation is back to normal, NIO will accelerate deliveries to make up for the delivery loss due to the recall. Management forecasts stronger August deliveries and aims to deliver between 2,000 and 2,500 vehicles. Markets Ignore NIO's ForecastMarkets failed to recognize NIO's delivery number will triple from 837 vehicles in July to as many as 2,500 vehicles. At a share price below $3.00, NIO's market cap is just one-tenth that of Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) market capitalization of $39 billion. So, when NIO is losing just as much as Tesla on an earnings per share basis, NIO stock looks like a stock worth speculating on.Still, markets may see a lesser value in NIO than in Tesla because of its potential for profitability. In the last few quarters, NIO's operating costs grew faster than its revenue. Tesla may see profitability through growing worldwide sales sooner than NIO does.When NIO depends mostly on China for its revenue, investors also face geographic risks. The ongoing U.S.-China trade war sees no signs of ending. Persistent or rising tariffs levied against the country will hurt everyone involved. Since Chinese spending levels are sensitive to the country's economic health, any decline will hurt NIO deliveries. After all, NIO's EVs are premium products that are more expensive than conventional gas-powered automobiles. Longer-Term Prospects for NIOInvestors speculating on NIO stock need to have the conviction that the long-term demand for its vehicles will continue growing. Assuming revenue growth outpacing operating cost growth in the years ahead, NIO will eventually reach profitability. Alternatively, investors who are unsure how the tariff and politics will play out may simply sit on the sidelines for now. In doing so, this group of investors will miss out on any big rally.In sitting on the sidelines, investors just need to wait and see what happens to NIO stock after the quarterly earnings report. More recently, one Wall Street analyst from Merrill Lynch issued a "sell" call and a $3.00 price target of just $3.00 (per Tipranks). And short float is a lofty 22.4%. The Chinese EV supplier clearly has many bears betting against its prospects.Ahead of the upcoming report, the average EPS estimate is a 27-cent loss on revenue of $176.28 million. In the last quarter posted on May 28, NIO reported a loss of 37 cents on revenue of $236.12 million. Your Takeaway on NIO StockInvestors have plenty of China-based stocks trading at sharp discounts. Although stocks like iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) are not in the EV space, they are examples of stocks trading at yearly lows. Investors could speculate on NIO and might get rewarded once the trade war ends.For those on the sidelines with NIO stock, buying better-quality names like JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) is another viable option to pursue.As of this writing, Chris Lau did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post NIO Could Be Worth Betting on at Below $3 appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Zacks
Implied Volatility Surging for Tesla (TSLA) Stock Options
Investors need to pay close attention to Tesla (TSLA) stock based on the movements in the options market lately.
- Market Realist
Is Tesla’s Service Quality Promise Faltering?
Nextmove was supposed to buy 100 Tesla (TSLA) Model 3 cars. However, the company called off its order due to Tesla's service quality issues.
- Investing.com
Stocks - Estee Lauder Soars in Premarket, PG&E Tumbles, Apple, Tesla, Target Rise
Investing.com - Stocks in focus in premarket trade Monday:
- TheStreet.com
[video]Elon Musk: Now You Can Rent Your Solar Panels
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is shaking up the solar power industry again. The controversial entrepreneur took to Twitter over the weekend to announce that customers can now rent solar panels from Tesla Solar. With the new lower Tesla pricing, it's like having a money printer on your roof if you live a state with high electricity costs.
- Bloomberg
‘Tesla Killers’ Are Having A Really Hard Time Killing Tesla
(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.It’s a trope that’s been around roughly as long as Elon Musk has been in the car business: When a new electric vehicle is unveiled, it’s dubbed a potential “Tesla killer.”But from the flaming-out of Fisker to present day, Tesla has largely dominated the American electric-vehicle market. Musk has even managed to expand the company’s preeminence over the still small segment despite two new battery-powered luxury SUVs arriving in U.S. showrooms the last 10 months: Jaguar’s I-Pace and Audi’s e-tron.Their starts are the latest indications that legacy automakers aren’t assured instant success when they roll out new plug-in models. Tesla’s Model S and X have largely held its own against the two crossovers that offer shorter range and less plentiful public charging infrastructure. Jaguar and Audi also lack the cool factor Musk has cultivated for the Tesla brand by taking an aggressive approach to autonomy and using over-the-air software updates to add games and entertainment features.“If a customer is choosing the I-Pace over the comparable Tesla, they are making the conscious decision: I don’t want the Tesla,” said Ed Kim, an analyst at the car-market research and consulting firm AutoPacific. “You really have to be someone who doesn’t like Tesla, who doesn’t want the Tesla product, in order to go for this.”Tesla’s Model X and Model S each boast more than 300 miles of range, and the cheaper Model 3 travels 240 miles between charges. Jaguar’s $69,500 I-Pace is rated at 234 miles, and Audi’s $74,800 e-tron registers 204 miles.Formula EJaguar’s marketing team spent years laying the groundwork to introduce the I-Pace. In 2016, the brand joined Formula E, an open-wheeled, electric-powered race circuit similar to Formula One.“We had an electric car in our development plan -- the I-Pace -- at the time,” said James Barclay, Jaguar’s racing director. “We had to create an awareness about the fact that we had an electric car coming to market, firstly, and to showcase why you’d buy a Jaguar electric vehicle over something else.”Porsche and Mercedes-Benz are also joining Formula E for the 2019-2020 season to help generate buzz for the new all-electric models they have coming out. The circuit makes stops in cities including New York, Hong Kong and London, which the brands are banking on as major markets for plug-in cars.“City centers are where there’s going to be a really good application for electric vehicles,” said Kim McCullough, Jaguar Land Rover’s vice president of marketing for North America. “So having them be able to see something firsthand -- it starts the education process.”Little InfluenceBut while Formula E is drawing crowds of urban dwellers and a substantial audience on social media, all that buzz may not necessarily translate into showroom traffic.“Auto racing really comes as one of the last influencers, in terms of influencing people to buy whatever car they’re looking at,” according to AutoPacific’s Kim. If Jaguar is doing well in Formula E, it couldn’t hurt the I-Pace, he said. “But I don’t think it would have a huge positive impact on awareness of the vehicle.”Jaguar has sold an average of about 190 I-Pace crossovers a month since U.S. sales began. Tesla, by comparison, was delivering Model Xs at a clip of about 550 a month in its first year on the market, beginning in 2015, according to InsideEVs.com estimates.The Audi e-tron has been on the market in the U.S. for only four months, but during that time, it has averaged sales of about 745 units, InsideEVs estimates. In July, 3.5% of Audi’s U.S. sales were all-electric, and the company expects that number to climb to 30% by 2025.“We are confident that we are and will continue to deliver an offering that customers will want to be part of,” Cian O’Brien, the interim president and chief operating officer of Audi of America, said in an email.$3,000 IncentiveAfter initial efforts to nab electric-car buyers proved challenging, Jaguar has decided to attack Tesla head-on.The brand is offering Tesla owners a $3,000 discount on the I-Pace for the next month and a half. “This is all about capturing share of voice,” Stuart Schorr, a Jaguar Land Rover spokesman, said in an email. “The EV market is just at its infancy.”Jaguar is confident that I-Pace sales will improve.“Consumers, as a result of seeing our race program, do consider us to be a car brand they would consider for their electric car purchase,” said Barclay, the racing director. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and for a premium automotive manufacturer with their first electric vehicle, it takes time in the market.”To contact the reporter on this story: Colin Beresford in New York at cberesford10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Melinda GrenierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Motley Fool
A Historian's Take on the Future of Cars
Historian and author Dan Albert explains the surprising and fascinating history of America’s relationship with the automobile.
- MarketWatch
Tesla reboots its solar-panel business by offering rentals
Tesla is trying to spark its solar-panel business by letting consumers rent rooftop systems rather than buy them.
- Bloomberg
Tesla Relaunches Solar-Panel Business With No-Contract Rentals
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. has another new plan to revive its foundering solar division: rentals.The Palo Alto, California-based company is now offering no-contract solar-panel packages as part of a relaunch announced in a series of tweets early Sunday by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.“With the new lower Tesla pricing, it’s like having a money printer on your roof,” Musk said in a tweet to prospective customers who live in states with high electricity costs. “Still better to buy, but the rental option makes the economics obvious.”The relaunch comes less than a month after Tesla reported its third consecutive quarterly decline in solar installations, and less than three years after it bought longtime rooftop king SolarCity Corp. for $2.6 billion. The automaker deployed just 29 megawatts in the second quarter -- its fewest yet in a single period. At its height, SolarCity installed more than 200 megawatts over three months.“It seems clear that Tesla is now trying to rebound their growth volumes having hit record lows by reverting back to a ‘no-money’ down type of model,” Michelle Davis, senior solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, said in a direct message on Twitter. “Tesla will need to prove they can manage their financials successfully this time around.”Since acquiring SolarCity, Tesla has made several strategic pivots that have contributed to an erosion in its market share. It ceased door-to-door marketing, ended a partnership with Home Depot Inc., cut jobs and opted to prioritize direct sales over the no-money-down lease that SolarCity popularized.Earlier this year, it shifted to offering standardized panel systems online, rather than the bespoke arrays that’s driven the rooftop-solar industry’s growth in the U.S.Tesla’s rental option can be had for a monthly payment that includes installation costs as well as support and maintenance, according to the company’s website. The contract can be canceled at any time, Tesla said, though there would be a $1,500 cost to remove the system.\--With assistance from Ellen Milligan.To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Eckhouse in New York at beckhouse@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller, Helen RobertsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Barrons.com
South Korea’s Sovereign-Wealth Fund Sold Tesla Stock — and Bought Uber and GM
South Korea’s sovereign-wealth fund made some big changes in its transportation investments and adjusted its holdings in a social-media platform.
- InvestorPlace
The Sun Is Shining on These 3 Solar Stocks
After several years' worth of cloudy skies, solar stocks may finally be finding their place in the sun. We have finally hit the inflection point with regards to solar installations and technology. In many areas, costs for solar -- without subsidies -- are now on par with other more traditional energy means. As a result, renewables are quickly gaining on market share from fossil fuels.According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), investments in renewable energy sources grew 55% from 2010 to 2018. More importantly, the agency predicts that 65% of all global energy spending will come from renewables like solar by 2030.For solar stocks, this is great news. No wonder why the Invesco Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) is up nearly 60% year to date.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On The long-term is very bright for solar stocks as well. With more money allocated towards renewables, the sector is finally poised to be a real moneymaker for investors. And there's still plenty of time to cash in on the biggest trends out there. For investors, the time to add solar stocks is now.With that, the sun is shinning for these three solar stocks today. Solar Stocks to Buy: First Solar, Inc. (FSLR)If you're going buy a single solar stock, it has to be kingpin First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR). The firm has been at the forefront of several key shifts in the industry that continues to this day.FSLR started out as a maker of very efficient solar panels with some of the highest rates of sun-to-energy conversion around. This advanced technology served it well with many utility-scale solar producers.When the glut of cheaply-made Chinese panels hit the market a few years ago, FSLR switched gears into being a producer of full-scale solar plants for utilities. The firm has managed to see plenty of rising revenues from key utility customers.During the last reported quarter, FSLR managed to see its revenues jump 89% as the solar firm was able to see a great combination of rising production and growing bookings from utilities. First Solar's new Series 6 panel -- which promises high efficiency coupled with low costs -- surged, while new bookings pushed FSLR's backlog to 12.9 GW.The strong first half of the year performance, as well as continued demand from utility and residential customers, has allowed FSLR to boost its already impressive guidance for the rest of the year. The firm now expects to pull as much as $3.7 billion in revenues and EPS near $2.75 on the high end.Adding in its strong balance sheet to its key leadership position, FSLR is one of the best solar stocks to buy for the long haul. Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN)To win in solar, it takes plenty of scale. This is especially true when it comes to residential solar installers. Putting solar panels on the roofs of consumers is a relatively low-margined business. It takes scale to clip small revenues from each one. Luckily for Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) it's building that scale in a big way.RUN is now the largest residential solar installer serving more than 255,000 customers and employing more than 1,700 MW worth capacity. Because of this surge in customers and installed wattage, RUN's revenues have sacked upped. Over the last three years, the firm's sales have surged by over 108%.Here's where it gets interesting for RUN. One of the problems for many residential customers is that they often don't have the cash up-front to pay for new systems. In this, Sunrun will often lease the systems to consumers. In that regard, RUN actually owns the panels on your roof. In order to make that happen, RUN needs to take out financing.If that sounds familiar, that's exactly what Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) SolarCity did. But unlike TSLA -- which is having troubles -- RUN is actually seeing sales rise in a big way that's allowing to service its debts with ease. * 15 Growth Stocks to Buy for the Long Haul While it's a riskier solar stock play, RUN makes an interesting addition to a portfolio to play the rise in residential solar installations. SolarEdge (SEDG)Israel is often ignored by investors, which is a real shame. The nation has long-been a technology and healthcare powerhouse that extends into the solar sector, with SolarEdge (NASDAQ:SEDG) being a top solar stock to buy. The key is in its products.Source: Shutterstock SEDG doesn't make panels -- which can be fraught with wild price swings. What it does do is make various components needed to make solar power work. Solar panels produce direct current (DC) electricity. However, the grid and household devices use alternating current (AC) electricity. In order to get energy from a solar panel, you need to use a device called an inverter. It's here that SolarEdge shines.The firm's inverter products not only convert energy from DC to AC, but also optimize power output from panels and boost efficiency. This allows installers and consumers to get a bit more from their installations. You get a product you need that is better than the standard.Customers love it. SolarEdge reported record revenues in its last quarter -- growing more than 20%. This follows its streak of record results. Meanwhile, this niche of providing needed components has allowed SEDG to be profitable as well -- a rarity among the solar names.The best part is that SEDG has the potential to keep the growth going. Aside from solar, the firm has moved into providing renewable energy storage products as well as other inverter items for wind energy. Using the same model for solar, SolarEdge is poised to win here as well.At the time of writing, Aaron Levitt did not have a position in any of the stocks mentioned. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post The Sun Is Shining on These 3 Solar Stocks appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Market Realist
NIO Stock at Bargain Price amid Battery Recall, Sales Slump
Nio Inc. (NIO) has disrupted the automotive space since 2014 but only made waves in the market since its IPO. Investors have suffered numerous setbacks.
- Reuters
Rental firm walks away from Tesla order after quality dispute
Car rental company Nextmove has walked away from a 5 million euros ($5.55 million) order for 85 Tesla Model 3 electric vehicles following a dispute over how to fix quality issues, the German company said on Friday. Nextmove said it had ordered 100 electric vehicles in 2018 but raised objections over quality and finish after taking delivery of the first 15 Model 3 cars earlier this year. Tesla said Nextmove chose not to take delivery of the cars.
- Bloomberg
Touch-Screens in Cars Don’t Make Us Safer – Yet
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Two years ago, 10 sailors died when the U.S. Navy’s guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a chemical tanker off Singapore. An investigation has determined that insufficient training and inadequate operating procedures were to blame, and both factors were related to a new touch-screen-based helm control system. The Navy has decided to revert its destroyers back to entirely physical throttles and helm controls.It’s worth exploring the Navy’s rationale for installing touch-screens (“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” says Rear Admiral Bill Galinis), as well as its rationale for getting rid of them:Galinis said that bridge design is something that shipbuilders have a lot of say in, as it’s not covered by any particular specification that the Navy requires builders to follow. As a result of innovation and a desire to incorporate new technology, “we got away from the physical throttles, and that was probably the number-one feedback from the fleet – they said, just give us the throttles that we can use.”There are lessons here — including a prescient one from 50 years ago — for other, more mundane transport-control interfaces as well.Large, interactive touch-screens are becoming increasingly prevalent in passenger cars; in the case of Tesla, they’re the only control interface. They’re lovely to look at, but as the Navy’s experience suggests, they might be more confusing than physical controls. That confusion isn’t academic, either: Distracted driving is an increasingly dangerous problem. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10% of all fatal crashes from 2012 to 2017 involved distracted drivers. Mobile phones are a major cause of distraction, as we’d expect, but they’re an even bigger problem for younger drivers.Almost 50 years ago, robotics professor Masahiro Mori wrote an extraordinary essay, “The Uncanny Valley,” on people’s reactions to robots as they became more and more humanlike. As Mori said, our affinity for robots rises as they more closely resemble humans. That affinity plunges, becoming negative and finally rising again once a robot reaches the (possibly unattainable) full likeness of a human being.Something similar is at work in our current touch-screen-filled vehicles. To an extent, adding more screen real estate give us more information, and with it more safety — until it begins to provide an overwhelming amount of information and an overly complex set of choices for visual navigation. And moving from one information-rich interface to another is increasingly difficult, as another Navy rear admiral said in reviewing the John S. McCain collision:When you look at a screen, where do you find heading? Is it in the same place, or do you have to hunt every time you go to a different screen? So the more commonality we can drive into these kind of human-machine interfaces, the better it is for the operator to quickly pick up what the situational awareness is, whatever aspect he’s looking at, whether it’s helm control, radar pictures, whatever. So we’re trying to drive that.There are two ways our in-car screens could evolve. The first is that, for safety’s sake, they’ll move back down the curve, so to speak, and be less ambiguous and more full of knobs and dials and physical throttles. That’s the Navy’s new approach. The second, though, is that we won’t go back, at least in passenger applications, to a more tactile interface of specific controls. We’re probably going to get more screens, with more information. Maybe the only way out of this valley is to shift the interface completely to voice or, in the very long run, to obviate the issue by having cars drive themselves. That could be how we navigate this uncanny valley of vehicle interfaces — the removal of any need to control the vehicle at all, and the chance to fill our cars’ screens with pure entertainment. Weekend readingA greener energy industry is testing investors’ ability to adapt. One coal CEO says “make money while you can” in an industry that is in terminal decline. The venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc has invested in Corvus Energy, a maritime and offshore battery systems company. America’s obsession with beef is killing leather. A look at how Phoenix comes alive at night, and how other cities might too in a hotter world. An exploration of how extreme climate change has arrived in America. The Anthropocene is a joke. On a geological time scale, human civilization is an event, not an epoch. Three years of misery inside Google, the happiest company in tech. Here’s what happens when Apple Inc. locks you out of its walled garden after fraud suspicions. Machine vision can spot unknown links between classic artworks. When Midwest startups sell, their hometown schools often lose. A programmer in California got a “NULL” vanity license plate in the hopes that the word would not compute in a database of traffic offenders. Instead, he was fined $12,049. Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, is exploring a startling clue that may help him find Amelia Earhart’s plane. Bugatti’s one-off La Voiture Noire debuted at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance. It’s already been sold, for $18.68 million. Bloomberg Businessweek’s Peter Coy looks back on the 40 years since the magazine declared “ the death of equities.” Get Sparklines delivered to your inbox. Sign up here. And subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close.To contact the author of this story: Nathaniel Bullard at nbullard@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Brooke Sample at bsample1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nathaniel Bullard is a BloombergNEF energy analyst, covering technology and business model innovation and system-wide resource transitions.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
