TSLA Jun 2020 680.000 call
Bid 48.90
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Tesla reportedly reached a settlement with the State of Michigan regarding the sales and service of its vehicles. According to the AP, this settlement would end the automaker's lawsuit against the state, which barred Tesla and others from selling vehicles directly to consumers. This would lead to consumers being able to purchase, take delivery and service Tesla vehicles within the State of Michigan.
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(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.'s market value has climbed above Volkswagen AG's for the first time to more than $100 billion, a threshold that will trigger a huge payout for Elon Musk if he can sustain the feat for months.The electric-car maker's shares soared as much as 8.6% on Wednesday to a new intraday high of $594.50. At that price, Tesla's market capitalization was roughly $107.2 billion, exceeding Volkswagen's $99.4 billion and trailing only Toyota Motor Corp.While Musk's skeptics are dubious that Tesla should be worth more than a carmaker that sold almost 30 times as many vehicles last year, Volkswagen's own Herbert Diess isn't so dismissive. He's been arguably the most vocal CEO among traditional carmakers to praise Tesla and point to its role in a radical shakeup of the more than century-old auto industry.After saying three months ago that Tesla was no niche manufacturer anymore, Diess told top Volkswagen executives at an internal meeting in Germany last week that connected vehicles will almost double the time consumers spend online, and that cars will "become the most important mobile device.""If we see that, then we also understand why Tesla is so valuable from the view of analysts," he said.Diess, 61, is rolling out the industry's largest electric-car fleet and aims to boost the company's value to a level rivaling Toyota, whose $232 billion market cap is still more than Tesla and VW's combined."Tesla has high innovative strength regarding battery-electric vehicles as well as connectivity, which can partly explain the high market capitalization," Stefan Bratzel, a researcher at the Center of Automotive Management near Cologne, Germany, said in a report Wednesday. The relatively low valuation of traditional automakers is linked to uncertainty over whether they can navigate the looming industry shift, he said.The jump above $100 billion is about more than just bragging rights for Musk, Tesla's billionaire chief executive officer. He's eligible to receive the first tranche of an all-or-nothing pay award if the company's market value stays above that threshold for a sustained period. On paper, the first chunk of the award would net him about $346 million.Tesla shares have more than doubled since the company reported a surprise third-quarter profit and told investors it was ahead of schedule bringing out its next product, the Model Y crossover, and opening its factory near Shanghai.The stock has room to run as Tesla grows in China, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a report Wednesday. He boosted his target price to $550 from $370 while maintaining the equivalent of a hold rating.Gary Black, who was chief executive of Aegon Asset Management from mid 2016 through September and now holds Tesla as a private investor, said he expects Tesla to earn more than VW by 2025 and believes consensus estimates for vehicle deliveries this year are too low. He expects Musk to forecast at least 550,000 units for 2020 during next week's earnings webcast and to tout the launch of the Model Y.While at least eight analysts have boosted their price targets by more than $100 since the year began, consensus is still well below where Tesla's shares are trading. The average target is $363.92 with just 10 analysts rating the stock a buy, compared with 10 holds and 16 sells.(Updates with VW's EV plans in sixth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Cécile Daurat, Tom Randall and Anders Melin.To contact the reporters on this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net;Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net;Gregory Calderone in New York at gcalderone7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, ;Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Cécile DauratFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Tesla's Newest Big Battery in Australia Set to Back Up Wind Farm
(Bloomberg) -- Australia has some big decisions to make about its future. For insight into the stories that matter, sign up for our new weekly newsletter.Tesla Inc.'s latest big lithium-ion battery is set to start in South Australia, one of the nation's biggest users of renewable generation, where it will support a steady flow of power from a wind farm.Infigen Energy's Lake Bonney storage system, equipped with a 25 megawatt Tesla battery, is in the final stages of testing and close to full commercial operations, the state's energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said in a statement following a visit to the site, which includes an existing 278.5 megawatt wind farm. Infigen said in November the battery started operating at full capacity Nov. 29.The project "will allow South Australia to incorporate more renewable energy into the system and move towards net-100% renewable energy in the 2030's," van Holst Pellekaan said. Solar and wind power already meet more than half of the state's electricity demand, compared to around 20% nationally.The Lake Bonney system follows the 100 megawatt Hornsdale facility installed by Tesla in 2017, also in South Australia. Hornsdale has been profitable for French owner Neoen SA, which bills it as the world's biggest lithium-ion battery and said in November it plans to boost its capacity 50%. A third Tesla battery in Australia, backing up the Gannawarra solar farm in Victoria state, started commercial operations in March.Read More: A Creaking Grid Jams Up Australia's Switch to Green EnergyPower from the Lake Bonney unit will also be used to supply Tesla's fast-charging Supercharger car stations, which are being rolled out across Australia.To contact the reporter on this story: James Thornhill in Sydney at jthornhill3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Aaron ClarkFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
The milestone comes less than a month after Tesla's stock crossed $420, the infamous price at which Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had tweeted he would take the electric car maker private. Musk tweeted he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private in August 2018, when its shares were trading in the mid-$330s, only to later give up under investor pressure and regulatory concerns. Tesla shares were last up 1.4% at $555 after the bell, building on a 7.2% gain during trading when brokerage New Street Research raised its price target to $800.
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Tesla Reaches Deal Clearing Way for Michigan Service Centers
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. has reached a settlement with the state of Michigan over its federal lawsuit challenging a state ban on direct-to-consumer sales, according to people familiar with the matter.In a partial victory for Tesla, the accord clears the way for the electric-car maker to open service centers in the state through a subsidiary, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified ahead of a filing in U.S. District Court that's expected as soon as Wednesday. Customers will still have to title their cars in another state and transfer them to Michigan.The Michigan attorney general's office had no immediate comment. Tesla representatives didn't respond to requests for comment.Tesla, which sells its electric cars directly to consumers in roughly two dozen states, filed suit against Michigan in 2016 seeking to overturn its ban on auto manufacturers selling directly to consumers. The suit claimed a bill signed into law by then-Governor Rick Snyder in 2014 was an "anti-Tesla" amendment designed to favor the state's automakers and franchise dealers.Instead of operating a network of franchised dealerships with hundreds of vehicles on the lot, Tesla's strategy has been to open small stores in shopping malls and other visible locations with lots of foot traffic. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and other carmakers operate under franchise laws that have been on the books for decades and were originally put in place to prevent manufacturers from opening stores that would compete with dealers.Key to SalesTesla has operated a gallery -- where it showcases vehicles but cannot sell them -- at a high-end mall in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Michigan, since 2017. Tesla owners in the state had to travel to Cleveland or Columbus, Ohio, to have their vehicles worked on until the company recently opened a service center in Toledo, near the state border.Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in July that service centers are key to growing sales."You've got to have service, you have to have the supercharging and charging all sorted out, good consumer financing, and then the price must makes sense," Musk said on an earnings call. "Any place where those four things are true, our sales are great. So we're rolling out service centers like crazy."In March, Tesla reversed a controversial plan to close most of its stores, but said that shoppers who visit its retail locations will be shown how to order a car on their phone in minutes. Its stores have played a critical role in educating consumers about making the switch to electric and in arranging test drives.Similar BattlesIn the 2016 lawsuit, Tesla said it was being stymied by automakers and dealers in Michigan. It's been waging similar battles in Texas and Connecticut for a license to sell directly to consumers, arguing that it doesn't violate dealers' rights because the company doesn't have any dealers.In 2016, Diarmuid O'Connell, then Tesla's vice president of business development, accused GM of pushing legislation that would keep its direct-sales model banned in Indiana.Tesla now has two stores and one service center in the state, according to its website.(Updates with details of settlement terms in second paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net;Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Kevin MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Michigan, Tesla reach agreement for direct car delivery: source
The company will be able to deliver vehicles within Michigan, but will have to issue titles for the vehicles in another state, which the customers can then transfer to Michigan, the person said. Tesla sued Michigan officials in 2016 after the state refused to allow the company to sell cars directly to consumers instead of through franchised dealerships.
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Tesla Shares May Reach $960 in Early 2021, Biggest Bull Says
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.'s most bullish Wall Street analyst predicts the electric-car maker's dizzying rally will accelerate this year and that the stock will trade in the $640-to-$960 range in early 2021.New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu anticipates the company will sell 2 million to 3 million cars per year after 2025 at industry-leading margins, justifying a market capitalization of $230 billion to $350 billion, or about $1,100 to $1,700 per share."The stock will remain volatile, as the spread between bull and bear cases remains wide," said Ferragu, who boosted his price target to a Street high. "And God only knows what the next controversy will be."Tesla is set to report quarterly earnings next week. Shares of the company rose as much as 6.9% to touch $545.90 in New York on Tuesday, and have increased more than 100% over the past three months. A surprise third-quarter profit and strong deliveries for the fourth quarter helped fuel the rally, along with the opening of its China plant.Ferragu, who raised his price target to a $800 from previous $530, expects the company to beat estimates for free cash flow when it releases fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 29.He also predicts 2020 delivery guidance will exceed projections, and sees a potential drop in gross margins in the first half of the year as Shanghai-assembled Model 3s -- which have higher fixed costs per car -- increase in the overall mix.Earlier on Tuesday, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi struck a cautious note, saying the Shanghai Gigafactory production could pressure margins in fourth and first quarter.(Updates share move in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Esha Dey in New York at edey@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brad Olesen at bolesen3@bloomberg.net, Will DaleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.'s stock is soaring, and traditional auto manufacturers are staging glitzy presentations of new plug-in models. You'd think the electric-vehicle age was finally dawning.But so far, Tesla is the only car company looking likely to benefit in the coming years. Look at every other corner of the U.S. auto industry -- the world's most valuable automaker, dealers, consumer surveys and market forecasts -- and a more ominous picture emerges.A top American executive for Toyota Motor Corp., whose market value is still more than double Tesla's even after Elon Musk's epic run, recently warned of electric-car catastrophe. Auto retailers caution growth will be slow, citing still-high battery costs and range constraints. And far more U.S. shoppers are willing to kick the tires on a hybrid than cars that only plug in.The cause for concern remains as EVs start to appear in showrooms in greater numbers. The models on the market will swell almost sevenfold to 121 models in the next half decade, from 18 now, according to LMC Automotive. But the researcher sees all those vehicles claiming just 5.5% of U.S. sales in 2025."We're going to see electrified Armageddon," Bob Carter, Toyota's executive vice president of North American sales, told reporters in December. "Supply is going to get ahead of true customer demand."There is irony, of course, in Carter predicting an EV reckoning just as Tesla was wrapping up a record year. The dim view he holds is not unique among legacy automakers, which have spent more than a century building and selling cars that burn fossil fuel. But that cautious mindset is rooted in pragmatism -- profits remain elusive in the high-cost, high-price EV business.That's why Toyota and other automakers have been reluctant to dive head-first into EVs until they're closer to reaching price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles, which BloombergNEF predicts will happen around 2024.Tesla is being rewarded for not waiting: Its shares surged another 6% on Tuesday to $540.94, a new intraday record. The stock has doubled since Tesla reported a surprise third-quarter profit in October, bringing the company closer to a $100 billion market value.EV sales are expected to grow to be roughly the size of the shrinking mid-size car segment by mid-decade, to about 934,000 units, LMC says. But whereas the meager family sedan market will be split between just 13 models, the researcher expects there to be more than nine times as many EVs fighting for air.Thanks to its hot-selling Model 3 sedan, Tesla accounted for nearly eight-in-10 EV sales in America last year. By 2025, LMC sees Tesla offering seven models that will account for a quarter of segment sales. That would leave the 114 competing offerings from other automakers averaging annual sales of 6,145 per model, or about 118 units a week."It's tough to make a business out of that volume per EV," said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC. "Electric vehicles are the future. What's in question is when that future will arrive and when it pays off? It's a long road and there definitely could be some carnage along the way."Automakers, fearing they'll be left behind if they don't accelerate their shift from the internal combustion engine, are going to great lengths to build buzz for new electric models.Ford Motor Co. staged a star-studded unveiling of its Mustang Mach-E in an airplane hangar a short stroll from SpaceX, Musk's rocket company. Porsche debuted its Taycan using Niagara Falls, a Chinese wind farm and a German solar site as backdrops.But with the notable exception of the Model 3, consumers have not been charged up by the highly touted electric offerings already on the market.Sales of the Chevrolet Bolt sagged almost 9% last year and the Nissan Leaf slumped 16%, with neither cresting 17,000 units. Last month, Mercedes-Benz put off the U.S. debut of its first EV by a year after Jaguar and Audi struggled to sell their first electric offerings.So far, only Tesla and its billionaire chief executive officer have come up with an alluring amalgam of status and sex appeal."Tesla has created the market by having a mystique," said Art St. Cyr, the head of American auto operations for Honda Motor Co., pointing to Musk's Model 3. "If Honda, Toyota, GM or Ford made that vehicle, we probably wouldn't sell them in those numbers."Honda, Ford and Toyota, which all have a history of selling hybrids, see them prevailing for the time being because mainstream buyers continue to suffer "range anxiety" -- the fear of being stranded by running out of juice in an EV."People are not generally willing to pay more to be inconvenienced," St. Cyr said.General Motors Co. is jumping more aggressively into EVs, with plans to field 20 models worldwide by 2023 and sell 1 million by 2026. It's joining forces with South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. to build a $2.3 billion battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio, where the car manufacturer stopped building gasoline-fueled Chevrolet Cruze compacts last year."Customers aren't interested in hybrids," Mary Barra, GM's CEO, said during an industry conference in November.But a study released by Deloitte this month found 27% of U.S. consumers are actively considering a hybrid, while just 8% are looking at pure electrics. Some 59% of Americans still want gasoline-powered cars, the highest of any country Deloitte surveyed globally.Government mandates have made China the world's top market for EVs, and European regulators also are stimulating demand with incentives to help reach more stringent goals for reduced emissions.But in the U.S., where President Donald Trump has sought to ease car-pollution rules and fuel is cheap, consumers are in no hurry to ditch the gas pump. The Deloitte study found consumers in the U.S. are most concerned about a lack of charging stations."The automotive ecosystem still has some work to do in terms of making EVs as easy and convenient as internal-combustion engines," said Craig Giffi, Deloitte's vice chairman.The onslaught of new EVs coming could actually help solve the problem. Until now, most EVs other than Tesla's have been boring "compliance cars" aimed at meeting tougher regulations, said Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering at AAA, which just conducted a survey that found 96% of EV owners would buy another because the experience was better than expected."Most people are looking for a crossover utility vehicle these days," Brannon said. "Now, we're seeing some of those coming, and that's what it's going to take. It has to be something people want to drive and can get excited about."The pickup segment, home to the three best-selling models in the U.S., is about to get jolt, too. Musk caused a sensation with the unveiling of the Cybertruck in November. Ford has an electric truck under development recently filmed towing 1 million pounds of loaded rail cars. And Amazon.com Inc.-backed Rivian Automotive Inc. plans to roll out its R1T starting late this year.But for all the hype about the chips automakers are pushing forward on the table, it's unclear when or if their gamble will pay off."Somebody's got to buy these things," said Toyota's Carter. "There is a market. The question is: How big and when will it mature?"(Updates with Tesla shares in eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from David Welch, Gabrielle Coppola, Chester Dawson and Melinda Grenier.To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at knaughton3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, ;Dimitra Kessenides at dkessenides1@bloomberg.net, Keith NaughtonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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Tesla Analyst Sees $800 a Share, New Bullish High-Water Mark
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