1/ As I work my way through the SolarCity transcripts, I think it is pretty clear what happened here and why. Some thoughts. $TSLAQ
2/ At its core, SolarCity wasn't really a solar company. It was a financing company wrapped in an aggressive stock promote. The heart of the business was sourcing and installing solar in exchange for power purchase agreements (PPAs) and tax credits which could be securitized.
3/ When I say SolarCity wasn't really a solar company, what I mean is they didn't make solar panels or solar inverters. They sourced these things from the market and acted as a financing intermediary with and installer for (mostly) residential customers.
1/ With EV competition arriving en masse in 2021 and Tesla's FSD scam unraveling for everybody to see, there's only one move left: $TSLA will merge with SpaceX. The man needs a new narrative, and this is the last trick.
H/T @AlderLaneeggs for hammering this idea since forever.
2/ The main stated synergy will be that, somehow, SpaceX's Starlink enables Tesla to finally solve FSD. Data!! Next generation internet!! 5G!! 6G!! He'll achieve Level 6 autonomy!! Yada yada yada. $TSLA
3/ A magician needs his distractions, and the orgy of fees the deal will generate means every analyst on the street will go bananas. Think Ives and Jonas write stupid stuff now? Wait until there's a few hundred million to slosh around. $TSLA
1/ Time for a lesson in “how to read a press release from a fraudster” - $GSX edition.
This morning, pre-market, $GSX put out this curious press release. The intent of the press release was achieved. The news cycle was saturated with “Larry Chen to buy $50mm of GSX” headlines.
2/ Since I live in Elon’s head rent-free, and Elon is the intergalactic GOAT fraudster, my brain has been well-trained. I immediately focused on something else. Read the next sentence, which is, shall we say, quite curious...
3/ The key word in that sentence is “currently”. I know how fraudsters think. How they manipulate. Sure enough, a simple Google search reveals he HAD, wait for it, 5.1 million shares pledged at none other than Credit Suisse!
1/ A small thread on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), with a disclaimer that it has been at least five years since I studied it deeply. I suspect not much has changed. cc @elonmusk
2/ The idea behind CCS is simple. Capture CO2 where it is produced (i.e. coal plants), pressurize it, move it to where it can be injected into the ground and bury it, hopefully for a very long time.
3/ This isn’t really a technology problem, although ongoing development certainly helps. The real issues are economic and political. Let’s take them both in turn, followed by some predictions about how Elon’s game will play out.
1/ I read with great interest the new report from @QCMFunds on $PEN and I watched his fantastic interview with @muddywatersre on @zer0estv earlier today. I have no position (yet) and color me shocked that in 2020 the stonk was up 8% on the news of the short report.
2/ Here's just a few charts as background. First, despite selling at 17 times trailing 12-month revenue, the company isn't growing. This is fake meat type valuations. $PEN
3/ What is growing quarter-after-quarter is finished goods inventory. Is it normal for market-leading medical device makers to have their products piling up unused at hospitals? $PEN