Funds managed by T. Rowe Price, which was until recently the second-largest shareholder in Tesla after Elon Musk, significantly cut their holdings in the electric vehicle (EV) maker in the past six months.
T. Rowe Price Associates held a total of 8,977,064 shares in Tesla as of December 31, 2018, accounting for 5.2 percent of all Tesla’s stock, a filing to the SEC showed.
In a previous SEC filing at the end of September, T. Rowe Price had reported that it held 17.4 million shares in Tesla as of September 30, 2018, or 10.2 percent of Tesla’s stock.
After halving its stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 5.2 percent from 10.2 percent, T. Rowe Price continued to cut its shareholding in the EV maker in the first quarter, according to Refinitiv data cited by Reuters.
In the first quarter of 2019, T. Rowe Price divested 92 percent of its previous interest in Tesla, data from Refinitiv showed, but the data may not include all funds managed by T. Rowe Price, Reuters notes.
Once a top shareholder, the drastic reduction in T. Rowe Price’s stake in Tesla over the past six months could be bad news for Tesla bulls, especially after negative sentiment had started to build up around the company again.
In the first quarter this year, Tesla had a challenging time with deliveries, with its total vehicle deliveries slumping by 31 percent from the previous quarter, ending well below analyst estimates.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-t-rowe-price-grp/tesla-holdings-slashed-by-t-rowe-price-funds-in-latest-cuts-by-investor-idUSKCN1RU05Whttps://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/80255/000008025519001855/tsla13gadec18.htmTesla Inc. is expected to report first-quarter results on Wednesday, with Wall Street bracing for a loss following two quarters of profits and hoping for better news on production and demand. Tesla TSLA, +0.75% reports after the bell and has scheduled a conference call with analysts for 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
The timing of the report is on the early side for Tesla, which typically reports its first-quarter numbers in early May, and it comes as the stock has been under pressure following a first-quarter delivery miss earlier this month.
It’s also scheduled to take place two days before an event aimed at showcasing Tesla’s autonomous driving capabilities.
Chief Executive Elon Musk already warned investors that Tesla is unlikely to report a profit this quarter, saying it could return to profitability in the second quarter.
“Our suspicion is that Q1 EPS could be an outright disaster, given that Tesla guided for a loss with an entire month left in the quarter, and its inherently high degree of operating leverage,” said Garrett Nelson, an analyst with CFRA
The quarterly report is also the first chance for the market to look at Tesla’s cash reserves and liquidity situation after it had to shell out $920 million on convertible senior notes that came due during the quarter.
Sell High wrote:
Funds managed by T. Rowe Price, which was until recently the second-largest shareholder in Tesla after Elon Musk, significantly cut their holdings in the electric vehicle (EV) maker in the past six months.
T. Rowe Price Associates held a total of 8,977,064 shares in Tesla as of December 31, 2018, accounting for 5.2 percent of all Tesla’s stock, a filing to the SEC showed.
In a previous SEC filing at the end of September, T. Rowe Price had reported that it held 17.4 million shares in Tesla as of September 30, 2018, or 10.2 percent of Tesla’s stock.
After halving its stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 5.2 percent from 10.2 percent, T. Rowe Price continued to cut its shareholding in the EV maker in the first quarter, according to Refinitiv data cited by Reuters.
In the first quarter of 2019, T. Rowe Price divested 92 percent of its previous interest in Tesla, data from Refinitiv showed, but the data may not include all funds managed by T. Rowe Price, Reuters notes.
Once a top shareholder, the drastic reduction in T. Rowe Price’s stake in Tesla over the past six months could be bad news for Tesla bulls, especially after negative sentiment had started to build up around the company again.
In the first quarter this year, Tesla had a challenging time with deliveries, with its total vehicle deliveries slumping by 31 percent from the previous quarter, ending well below analyst estimates.
So?
Every share that T. R. Price sold somebody else bought. So, unless you think that T. R. Price is somehow better at picking stocks than everybody else (and there is a lot of evidence that it is not), then there is no relevant information in the fact that T. R. Price sold their shares.
Nvidia Corp. NVDA, said in a statement Monday that Tesla Inc. TSLA, was wrong in describing its self-driving computer as more powerful than Nvidia's, which Tesla used until it began developing its own chip. "Tesla was inaccurate in comparing its Full Self Driving computer at 144 TOPS of processing with Nvidia Drive Xavier at 21 TOPS," a spokesman said in an email. "The correct comparison would have been against Nvidia's full self-driving computer, Nvidia Drive AGX Pegasus, which delivers 320 TOPS for AI perception, localization and path planning."
The statement also contends that "while Xavier delivers 30 TOPS of processing, Tesla erroneously stated that it delivers 21 TOPS. Moreover, a system with a single Xavier processor is designed for assisted driving AutoPilot features, not full self-driving." Tesla showed off its new chip and other self-driving information at an event earlier Monday. Tesla shares finished Monday's session with a 3.9% decline, while Nvidia stock increased 1.2%.
Tesla Inc. TSLA, Chief Executive Elon Musk took a small dig at Nvidia Corp. NVDA, saying it was a "great company" that had too many customers and therefore had to do a "generalized solution." Musk was speaking at Tesla's investor day, which is focused on the company's self-driving capabilities. Musk also criticized the industry's reliance on lidar, a common sensor being in self-driving test cars. "Lidar is a fool's errand and anyone relying on lidar is doomed. Doomed," he said, likening it to an "expensive appendix."
While Tesla's Q1 earnings announcement was devoid of any noticeably massive embarrassments, freak outs or assaults on analysts, the report and its associated conference call were simply just ugly. The company's report was far worse than the already pessimistic estimates laid out by Wall Street and the conference call was a scripted and stuttering snoozefest. Most notable is the fact that the company posted an astonishing $702 million loss for the quarter, despite telling journalists on their "secret call" about 7 weeks ago that the company might see a "slight loss" in the quarter.
Tesla’s $2.90 a share loss more than doubled analyst expectations, which were for a loss of $1.30 a share.
These were, again, estimates that had already come down significantly over the last few weeks.
Gross margins fell as total sales tumbled.
Excluding the sale of EV credits, Tesla’s margins were 20.2%, down from 24.3% in 4Q.
The news that helped shares was the outlook buried at the tail end of the shareholder letter. In it, Musk foreshadowed a more rosy outlook on profits and cash flow than he had presaged on investor day.
“Operating cash flow less capex should be positive in every quarter including Q2,” adding that, he expects to reduce losses in Q2 and get back in the black in Q3.
Those results likely rely on hitting Tesla’s sales guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles, which Musk also affirmed despite a relatively low 63,000 cars sold in the first quarter.
He said the low sales were largely the results of constraints from a supplier and long shipping lines of cars to Europe and China.
On the analyst call, Musk hinted that a cash raise may be in the offing.
He said there is some "merit to the idea of raising capital." That makes sense since Tesla is trying to get the Model Y ready for production.
Musk also touted an insurance product, which he hopes to launch in about a month.
Because they are managing their legacy business so well already...
Musk also said that he would prefer to take the company private but rued the fact that he probably cannot pull off a deal to do so. “I think the ship, that ship, has sailed,” he said
If by "the ship sailing" he means "I can't fake another buyout offer", we think he's right.
Two weeks ago, Tesla removed the $35k Model 3 from their website, making it an “off-menu” item. When asked, they couldn’t answer how long the model would be available – causing many, including Electrek, to assume that this was an attempt to “kill” the car.
It looks like that death won’t pan out yet, as today during Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk made the promise that the 35k Model 3 “is there and will remain there” for sale for an indefinite time period.
Releasing the $35k Model 3 was a huge accomplishment, the culmination of Tesla’s original “secret master plan” from 2006.
https://electrek.co/2019/04/24/tesla-promise-35k-model-3-claims-few-ordering/
Good thing Elon is branching out into Insurance.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article229716149.html
Insurance is what Musk needs.