[thisisit]

> Way to spin all the production issues and delay of the previous quarter into a positive.

I don't really like Musk but sending positive messages in Investment relations is the key to keeping the company afloat. At one of my previous employers we lost top 4 customers and 10% of our revenue. But, the investment relationship site said - "We are up 1% in revenue, if we discount top 4 customers".

If Tesla admits and says - "We have improved but we are still behind on our original promise" then the stock price is going to drop like a rock.

[misja111]

No, investors are not that stupid. They might buy these marketing talks for a while but eventually they will see through. The recent drop in Tesla's share price is a testament of that.

"You can fool some people all of the time, and you can fool all people some of the time, but you can't fool all people all of the time."

[bald]

Price is a function of supply and demand. So this tactic is better than the blunt tactic even if it manages to fool only one shareholder.

[chillingeffect]

Yes, it's about the ratio of shareholders you can fool all the time to the ratio of the shareholders you can't fool all the time.

[thisisit]

I agree investors are not stupid. But, I never said it was about investors being stupid. It is simply not saying stuff which casts doubt about Tesla's ability to deliver.

People are going to arrive at the conclusion irrespective. Take the GP for example, he/she correctly pointed out that Tesla is behind schedule. There is nothing wrong with that conclusion.

[ProAm]

> then the stock price is going to drop like a rock

Shouldn't investors know the truth about their investment? Give people a chance to keep their money if the are making a poor investment? (Im not saying Tesla is, but smoke and mirrors is a poor way to present your company to the public)

[komali2]

He didn't lie, and investors that care about the numbers we're talking about here are welcome to look at them.

So perhaps the lesson is savvy investors should ignore the pr and focus on the hard numbers?

[fmihaila]

> Shouldn't investors know the truth about their investment?

Don't they? Tesla gave the raw numbers. Investors (should) use those to make up their mind.

[jimrandomh]

Stock price is mostly controlled by the sort of investor for whom figuring out a company's prospects is a full-time job for multiple days. PR spin matters, but you should expect the stock price to mainly reflect the numbers, not the spin.

[ballenf]

The message to investors is more about demonstrating that they haven't given up and are still enthusiastic about improving.

What investors flee from is demoralized companies where the leaders are burned out or have stopped trying to make gains.

[_pmf_]

> I don't really like Musk but sending positive messages in Investment relations is the key to keeping the company afloat.

Let's see how the SEC will like this line of argumentation.

[justicezyx]

Dishonest is the norm of doing business That does not make them right