Tesla's Life After Hell. Today we published seven charts (and two retro video-game gifs) showing Tesla's trip to the brink and back in 2018 1/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
First up: Tesla’s production numbers. After struggling to make the Model 3 for 18 months, everything changed in Q3. It took 10 years for Tesla to sell its first half-million electric cars. It’ll take just 15 months to reach its first million 2/ bloomberg.com/news/features/… 
In the second half of 2018, the Model 3 was the fifth best-selling sedan in the U.S.—outsold only by Toyotas and Hondas—despite an average selling price of more than $55k. No other car brought in more revenue in the U.S. 3/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
In the closing weeks of 2018, Tesla’s market cap overtook Daimler’s as the third most-valuable automaker—they’ve since gone back and forth—even though Tesla is nowhere close to the revenue, earnings or capital resources of these global competitors 4/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Once Tesla started cranking out Model 3s, its cash flows made a U-turn. Every analyst surveyed by Bloomberg now expects a Q4 profit—a reversal from last spring. 2019 free cash flow expectations flipped from -$795 million to +$837 million 5/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
It’s worth noting, that Tesla’s improved outlook doesn’t necessarily make it a good stock pick. Just 13 out of 37 analysts recommend buying shares and many still expect and/or recommend another capital raise soon 6/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
In the first 9 months of 2018, Tesla sold 19% of the world’s EVs, according to BNEF. The Q4 #s will be updated soon and will likely show even more market share. Tesla’s competition starts to land in 2019: Porsche Taycan, Audi E-Tron, Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes EQC, BMW Mini, etc 7/
Tesla’s little-noticed edge: battery cost. Pack prices are roughly 3 years ahead of the industry’s cost curve, according to data compiled by BNEF. Every time global production doubles, prices fall another 18% 8/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Finally, Tesla’s product roadmap is probably the best in the biz—if they can stick to it. Our analysis last year showed that Musk typically blows his own deadlines by about 50% of the original projection 9/ bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Also, praise and honors go to @hellococomo for making today's gifs, including this homage to the early-90s video game SkyRoads bloomberg.com/news/features/…
