Elon Musk isn't backing down despite weird remarks in Tesla call
If Elon Musk has any regrets about dissing some pesky stock analysts in a call this week to discuss Tesla's latest earnings, it's not showing up in his Twitter feed.
The quirky entrepreneur took to social media on Friday to defend his combative performance, in which he rebuked analysts for asking "boring, bonehead" questions about the electric car maker. Tesla shares sank during the unusual post-earnings call, taking billions off the company's market value.
The “dry” questions were not asked by investors, but rather by two sell-side analysts who were trying to justify their Tesla short thesis. They are actually on the *opposite* side of investors. HyperChange represented actual investors, so I switched to them.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 4, 2018
Despite a slew of headlines highlighting his unusual remarks, which strayed from the usual generally civil exchanges between corporate executives and investment pros, Musk is doubling down. On Twitter, he alluded to Wall Street analysts he claims are "trying to justify their Tesla short thesis," a reference to investors who bet against a company's stock.
Both analysts snubbed by Musk -- RBC Capital Markets' Joseph Spak and Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi -- have a "hold" or equivalent rating on Tesla shares, rather than a "sell" rating.
First, it’s important to know that Tesla is the most shorted (meaning most bet against) stock on the market & has been for a while https://t.co/srEp1tf6ZU
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 4, 2018
During Wednesday's call, Spak asked about customer reservations for the Model 3 sedan, while Sacconaghi wanted to know about Tesla's capital requirements. Tesla has burned through billions in cash as it battles to hit production targets for the Model 3, the vehicle the company is counting on to crack the broader auto market.
The questions were "neither valid nor pertinent," Musk tweeted, urging people to ignore the thread unless they were interested in "a tedious discussion about Tesla stock."
Please ignore this thread unless you’re interested in a tedious discussion about Tesla stock
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 4, 2018
Sacconaghi fired back at Musk Thursday, telling CNBC: "This is a financial analyst call, this is not a TED talk."
Musk got a warmer reception among his Twitter base, with one fan defending him as one who "cares more about the world and making it a clean place without help from corrupt Wall Street."
Tesla has put a big footprint in the evolution of electric cars. The stock will go up. He cares more about the world and making it a clean place without help from corrupt Wall Street than making a profit. And when you put people first, profits will follow.
— DIMAS (@dimas_______) May 4, 2018
Wall Street weighed in by putting a halt to its recent hammering of Tesla -- its shares rose nearly 4 percent in afternoon trade.
The exchange with analysts wasn't Musk's only display of testiness of late. He also recently hung up on Washington's top transportation accident investigator, Bloomberg News reports. The phone call occurred when the National Transportation Safety Board chair called to reprimand Musk for blog posts about a fatal Tesla crash still under investigation by the NTSB.