Jim Cramer on Elon Musk's 2014 Q4 Conference Call

[AndyH]

Bad choice of words in any case, that most competent CEOs would not use!

Where do you teach CEO conversation classes? I want to sign up for one. Thanks in advance.

Doesn't Musk have a business degree from Wharton? Was he asleep in some classes, e.g. Strategic Marketing?

I wasn't asking about Musk - I was asking about you.

 

[lorenfb]

I wasn't asking about Musk - I was asking about you.

Sorry, my involvement in education was/is not in teaching.

 

[Zythryn]

"Unfortunately, this sounds kind of brain dead but our sales team was telling people that it was difficult to charge in China."

Bad choice of words in any case, that most competent CEOs would not use!

Bottom line: One would expect a more professional conference call from a highly watched and
quoted company.

Regardless of it being, in your mind, a poor choice of words, don't you see how Cramer's claim is misleading, if not an outright lie?

To base an opinion of a company on the lies spoken by someone else about that company makes no sense.

 

[MikeinDenver]

- 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.""

Hahahahahah Cramer. Listening to him is about as useful as listening to other buffoons such as O'Reilly and Limbaugh.

 

[Nubo]

A "formal warning", eh? What's next? Double Super-Secret Probation?

Tesla have to grow exponentially, both in order to secure long-term survival as a car manufacturer, as well as to achieve their mission of electrifying personal transportation. They're going to be spending massive amounts of money for quite some time.

Maybe Cramer is trying to generate some short interest. Lord knows some huge fortunes were won and lost the last time Tesla shorts got burned to a crisp.

 

[mbender]

Tesla could go out of business tomorrow and still have succeeded in their mission, which was/is "to accelerate the advent of electric transport(ation)". I think anyone paying attention at all realizes they have already done that, and more. Of course, Tesla, always wanting to increase the magnitude of acceleration ;-), is going to keep at it -- going faster, farther, and further.

It doesn't matter, though. For whatever reasons, Musk & co. have attracted more vocal critics and haters than anything they have done merits. The nation, if not the world, should be excited and grateful, even if not cheering, for how they have raised consciousness (as well as 'the bar'). It's simultaneously fascinating and disheartening to see sizable segments of the populace take another view.

 

[kubel]

Let's all flashback to the Tesla IPO in 2010:

Cramer: "After it becomes public, it's a sell, sell, sell. You don't want to own this stock, you don't want to lease it--- heck you don't even want to rent the darn thing"

 

[Berlino]

What are Kramer's and lorenfb's opinions of SpaceX and Paypal?

 

[TomT]

Who cares! :lol:

What are Kramer's and lorenfb's opinions of SpaceX and Paypal?

 

[mbender]

What are [C]ramer's and lorenfb's opinions of SpaceX and Paypal?

SpaceX is not a publicly traded company, and may never be.
PayPal was only public for a few months in 2002 before eBay bought them up. I don't think Cramer was even on the air (cable) back then. Someone else can research into whether he bought PayPal during that time (or encouraged others to buy it).

 

[smkettner]

Tell me, would you describe making the statement, "The Leaf has a range of 120 miles" as making a kind of brain dead statement?

Yes brain dead. And the first 5,000 of us that believed it were apparently brain dead also :roll:

I agree with the others that Cramer is more entertainer than market guru.

As for Musk showing the losses due to large expenses is encouraging to me. If it was not a real company they would have leaned toward more cap-ex and less direct expenses to show a profit.
JMHO

 

[Berlino]

What are [C]ramer's and lorenfb's opinions of SpaceX and Paypal?

SpaceX is not a publicly traded company, and may never be.
PayPal was only public for a few months in 2002 before eBay bought them up. I don't think Cramer was even on the air (cable) back then. Someone else can research into whether he bought PayPal during that time (or encouraged others to buy it).

I wasn't clear, but I meant it in the sense of, "what do they think of Musk's management of SpaceX and PayPal?" This is since Lorenfb seems to think Elon is an incompetent CEO.

 

[mbender]

^^^ Yeah, sorry about that. Got a little carried away. ;-)

I suspect that there is a Tesla-short and/or troll in the house, LOL.

 

[gbarry42]

Bad choice of words in any case, that most competent CEOs would not use!

Bottom line: One would expect a more professional conference call from a highly watched and
quoted company.

(Emphasis was mine)

And most CEO's do just as you wish, but there are a few "cowboys" out there. One of the reasons Tesla is a highly watched company is because of what they are accomplishing. But another reason is because the CEO tells it like it is. This gets people interested. Imagine having to listen to a ramble about how "we're currently realigning our charge infrastructure protocols with an eye toward better marketing representation in alliance with our customer base", and then we'd have (more) discussion threads trying to decode just what he was talking about.

With that kind of attitude ("EV charging is a pain") I should hope he would make some changes down there. And I like knowing he's as disappointed as I would be.

And here, I thought we'd get more mileage out of, "That doesn't mean BS profitable, it means really profitable!" I'm trying to come up with a mission statement or motivational poster based on that one

 

[mbender]

And here, I thought we'd get more mileage out of, "That doesn't mean BS profitable, it means really profitable!" I'm trying to come up with a mission statement or motivational poster based on that one

You might check here for some ideas, .

 

[eloder]

Bottom line: One would expect a more professional conference call from a highly watched and
quoted company.

T-Mobile CEO.

 

[GRA]

And here, I thought we'd get more mileage out of, "That doesn't mean BS profitable, it means really profitable!" I'm trying to come up with a mission statement or motivational poster based on that one

You might check here for some ideas, .

I guess this one would be best for Elon: http://www.despair.com/shoot-for-the-moon.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OTOH, this one clearly applies to a certain company's marketing of their BEV, and subsequent support of their customers: http://www.despair.com/marketing.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for this site!

 

[mkjayakumar]

-

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?!
"

That was in fact very true. Remember, Tesla doesn't deal with the dealer cartel to 'sell' their cars. They have to directly deal with their customers get it delivered. A good number of them could have been on vacation and the severe weather in North east was indeed an issue to get them shipped out on time.

-
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

What Cramer considers as shocking, I find that quite a refreshing no-BS speech. I am tired of these polished, CEO-speak which in my dictionary is euphemism for 'lying without getting caught'.

 

[Deleted member 14724]

Bottom line: One would expect a more professional conference call from a highly watched and
quoted company.

T-Mobile CEO.

Touché. Can't get much more . . . unconventional than that guy.

 

[tkdbrusco]

I will say that I have no respect for Elon Musk. The guy is a total D-bag. My best friend worked at Tesla for 3 years, designed the AV inerface in the Roadster, the power delivery system in the roadster as well as a significant portion of the same system in the S. When he died tragically (with 2 other engineers) in a plane crash 5 years ago, Elon said nothing at their memorial, only handed the mic over to another guy and walked away saying "I'm no good at these things, I didn't know these guys" and since he was in debt up to his ears at the time, wrote a $1000 check to my friend's scholarship fund. Not sure I would ever buy a Tesla or support that company. And Cramer is right, if it wasn't for government subsidized cars and business, they wouldn't be here. Their earnings don't stack up to their valuation, and Musk is a total jerk.