Tesla CEO Elon Musk sounded sleepy on the EV maker's earnings call late Wednesday. It's not surprising considering the time required to reduce debt on Twitter, appear in court, study rocket designs, and stay up late the day before the call with the Tesla AI team.
Musk did his best to sound enthusiastic about Tesla's business as he warned of a severe recession this year, doubling down on his recent downbeat economic rhetoric before announcing a delay in Cybertruck production in the summer from mid-year, with volume production beginning in 2024. The company's volume growth guidance for 2023 was 38% lower than the long-term target of 50%.
The earnings call went along and the stock TSLA rose nearly 7% in premarket trading on Thursday. Wedbush analyst and Tesla commentator Dan Ives said on Twitter that Musk strongly supported Tesla's earnings call. Volumes look strong in January after price cuts and China are a key factor in the equation. This was a bullish call and realistic delivery numbers set for 2023. What happened here? It appears that Musk and his team did just enough in the minds of many investors to remove the worst-case scenario for the stock in the near-term. That worse-case scenario, pros say, would be a re-test of the 52 week low around $101.
The stock of Tesla was bottomed a few weeks ago, according to investors.
EvercoreISI analyst Chris McNally wrote a note to clients that investors seem willing to underwrite $100 hard downside. Elon was optimistic about the call. Here is what Yahoo Finance heard on the earnings call that may be fueling Tesla's stock:
Brian Sozzi is an anchor at Yahoo Finance. Sozzi follows BrianSozzi on Twitter and LinkedIn.