- Yahoo Finance On CNBC Broadcast On the 2014 Q4 Elon Musk Conference Call -
"That's it, Jim Cramer has had enough!
"Is Elon Musk seriously proud of the disaster conference call that he held for Tesla this week?
Elon, consider this as your one and only warning from Cramer before you land on the Mad Money
Wall of Shame."
Looking back, Cramer has always referred to Tesla as a "cult stock." Those are stocks that remain
difficult to value, because they do not trade on earnings or traditional measurements used to
value stocks. Instead, they trade on how snazzy the last press release was. That meant that to
believe in Tesla, investors couldn't hold it accountable for its bottom line. Investors would have
to believe that the car would do better than the competition, and the CEO would lead the charge
for the company and allow it to flourish. Cramer's dreams were crushed in practically every aspect
after listening to Musk's conference call Wednesday evening. The company missed the mark
on sales, earnings and cash flow and guidance. It is swimming in debt, with a negative $455
million cash flow. "It is burning money like crazy. It is spending money like crazy. No way the
balance sheet can support the investment needed," said the "Mad Money" host.
But the real kicker was the responses provided by Musk to valid questions about earnings.
When asked why sales were weak, and how manufacturing problems held back the company,
Musk responded that it was "physically impossible due to a combination of customers being
on vacation, severe winter weather and shipping problems." Customers on vacation?! Musk
then referred to his employees as being "brain-dead" when clarifying that the perceived issue
in China is that his sales team gave the incorrect perception that it was difficult to charge cars
in China, though it was not. He then responded to a question of profitability for the future by
stating "I'd like to emphasize that doesn't mean 'B.S.' profitable, it means really profitable."
Cramer was shocked that a CEO would curse on a conference call and compared the lowbrow
action to Enron's CEO desperately cursing at an analyst shortly before it fell apart. Musk then
went on to compare Tesla to Apple, and confirmed that it will be spending staggering amounts
of money on capital expenditures. Where the heck is this money going to come from? While he
loves the Tesla car, he does not like the company. And though Cramer does consider Musk a genius,
he is now officially issuing him a formal warning. "Make no mistake about it, this was a fiasco
miss of immense proportions coupled the arrogance of Steve Jobs without the wonderment to
back it up.""