Elon Musk Apologizes to Analysts on Tesla Earnings Call

Following Tesla’s record $739 million second-quarter loss, CEO Elon Musk apologized to two Wall Street analysts during an earnings call for being “impolite.”

During Tesla’s second-quarter earning’s call yesterday, in which Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed the company’s $739 million loss, Musk addressed issues relating to production schedules and apologized to two Wall Street analysts, Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi and RBC’s Joseph Spak. Discussing the company’s plans to increase car production within the next few months, Musk stated: “We’ve spent a lot of time debugging wide-ranging manufacturing issues that the potential for our existing lines to be able to produce far more cars is much greater than expected.”

Discussing the issues that Tesla is facing in turning the company cash flow positive, Musk stated: “Provided the economy is roughly where it is today, or is reasonably good and there is not a big force majeure event, … I feel comfortable achieving a GAAP income-positive and cash-flow positive quarter every quarter from here on out.”

Musk then apologized to Sacconaghi for comments on a previous call in which Musk called questions from Sacconaghi and Spak “boneheaded.” Musk stated: “I would like to apologize for being impolite on the prior call. Obviously I think there’s really no excuse for bad manners and I was violating my own rule in that regard. There are reasons for it, I got no sleep, 120 hour weeks, but nonetheless, there is still no excuse, so my apologies for not being polite on the prior call.” Musk then apologized to Spak saying: “I would also like to apologize for being impolite to you on the prior call. That’s not right, and I hope you accept my apology.”

Discussing Tesla’s production tent that was used to manufacturer Model 3 cars, Musk stated: “People make fun of our tent, … but by the way our tent is amazing. … It’s not like, people say “tent,” but it is not something you buy from REI or something to go camping. This is a tent that is actually commonly used as a permanent structure.”

Musk also stated he expects that Tesla will be producing one million cars by 2020: “If it’s not a million it is going to be pretty close. I would say if it is not a million it will be 750,000 or something like that in 2020. … We’ll aim for a million by 2020, but somewhere between a half a million and a million seems pretty likely.” Musk also claimed that he believes that Tesla has the best product pipeline of any company: “If there’s a company with a better product pipeline, I’d like to know what it is because we have some super awesome stuff coming.”

Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures, discussed the earnings call saying: “The pieces are now falling into place for a sustainable Tesla story. Before, it took mental gymnastics to get there. His actions on the call were a powerful statement that he’s capable of channeling his energy for the good of the company, and it removes a central concern of Tesla supporters.”

David Kudla, CEO of Mainstay Capital Management, which is betting against Tesla, commented on the company’s latest financials saying: “I was impressed with their negative free cash flow.”