Elon Musk says Tesla may very well be price ‘greater than Apple and Aramco mixed’ (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s bullishness on his firm’s inventory was actually not dented by a disappointing earnings consequence on Wednesday night.

For the Austin-based automakers third quarter, transport challenges hampered deliveries and led to income lacking the analyst consensus. Margins additionally got here in lighter than anticipated as CFO Zachary Kirkhorn cited “uncooked supplies, logistics and international change” as the largest headwinds hitting the automaker in Q3.

Shares of the world’s most beneficial automaker slid over 6% in early buying and selling on Thursday, trending towards a 52-week low marked on Friday, October 14.

Nonetheless, CEO Elon Musk remained characteristically exuberant on the long-term trajectory of the corporate. Lamenting his perception that “market themes revolve across the quick time period,” he voiced his confidence within the firm’s capability to proceed to ship worth for shareholders. Pointing to previous efficiency as an indicator, Musk mentioned he sees a path for the auto producer to change into probably the most precious firm on the earth.

“I’m of the opinion that we will far exceed Apple’s present market cap,” Musk informed analysts. “The truth is, I see a possible path for Tesla to be price greater than Apple and Saudi Aramco mixed.”

That progress would suggest an over $4T market cap for Tesla (TSLA). Whereas he added that the trail to this valuation will probably be “very troublesome”, he doubled down and indicated that he believes his firm may very well be price “roughly twice the worth of Saudi Aramco. Musk mentioned throughout Wednesday’s earnings name that that is the primary time he has foreseen this potential.

Whereas the decision was met with comprehensible skepticism on Wednesday, Musk has beforehand made good on bullish guarantees. For instance, he proclaimed in 2015 that the automaker would exceed a $700B valuation. On the time, the corporate was price solely about $25B.

By way of guarantees Elon Musk has but to make good on, the Tesla semi, full-self driving, and Cybertruck have lengthy been obvious examples. The semi truck was first unveiled in November 2017 with manufacturing slated for 2019. In the meantime, the Cybertruck made its on-stage debut in late 2019 with a promise to be out there on the market by 2021. Lastly, a protracted historical past of “absolutely autonomous” guarantees from Musk was maybe greatest exemplified by the April 2019 declaration that 1M robotaxis could be on the highway by the tip of 2020.

Nonetheless, the Tesla (TSLA) frontman supplied but extra commentary on the topics on Wednesday, remaining optimistic on many of those fronts.

“We’re within the remaining lap for Cybertruck,” Musk mentioned. “We’re constructing a Cybertruck line right here at Giga Texas and making a variety of progress within the robotaxi platform design.”

Early manufacturing of the Cybertruck was slated for mid-2023. In the meantime, Musk reiterated that Tesla Semis are set for supply to Pepsi on December 1. For autonomous driving, Musk was extraordinarily assured within the security of the FSD Beta rollout.

“The protection that we’re seeing when the automotive is in FSD mode is definitely considerably higher than the protection we’re seeing when it isn’t, which is a key threshold for going to a large Beta,” he informed analysts on Wednesday.

The automaker has been promoting a “full-self driving” add-on since 2016, charging prospects as much as $10K on the time for the acknowledged functionality.

“In ~2 years, summon ought to work wherever linked by land & not blocked by borders, eg you are in LA and the automotive is in NY,” Elon Musk tweeted in January 2016.

The value tag for the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package deal was hiked to $15K. As of October 2022, the sensible summon comes with the disclaimer that it might solely be used “on parking heaps and driveways situated on non-public property the place the encompassing space is acquainted and predictable.” Tesla particularly warns towards its use on public roads.

Learn the earnings name transcript.