It was earnings season and Tesla did well, so did Hyundai and AutoNation, and Lincoln has an interesting new concept. All that and more in Morning shift for April 21, 2022.
First gear: Tesla did a great job, and so did Elon
The richest person in the world was a little richer yesterday, after Tesla Earnings report better than expected. The remuneration of Tesla CEO Elon Musk is closely related to Tesla’s performance.
From Reuters:
Tesla reported quarterly revenue of $18.76 billion and so-called adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $5.02 billion. Combined with the previous three-quarter results, passing key milestones triggered contention from ninth to 11th out of 12 batches of options granted to Musk on his 2018 salary package.
Musk said Wednesday that no discussions have been conducted about the increased compensation.
Musk, who is also a major shareholder and CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, does not take a salary at Tesla. His salary package requires Tesla’s market capitalization and financial growth to hit a series of escalation goals.
Each tranche gives Musk the option to buy 8.4 million Tesla shares at $70.01 per share, about 90% off Wednesday’s closing price of $977.20. At the stock’s current price, the three option periods would support as Tesla’s third-quarter results could generate profits of about $23 billion, or nearly $7.7 billion each.
The only other company I’ve seen that does what Tesla has done is Apple, which rose from the dead in its attempt to conquer the world, also thanks to the leadership of a charismatic crank. Tesla never died but sure used to touch and move. During Apple’s years, Tesla was probably in the middle of developing a second or third generation iPod, if you believe Tesla will also go to the moon. Then still young.
2nd gear: Wall Street is also happy with Tesla
Tesla’s share price rose on Thursday on the back of earnings, notably the stock price’s erratic rise and fall over the past six months.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Shares were up 7.1% before the opening bell Thursday, trading at $1,046.81 a share. According to FactSet, trading was swift, with shares changing hands more than 166,000 times. That’s nearly double that of American Airlines Group, the next most-traded stock on the S&P 500.
[…]
Tesla delivered about 310,000 vehicles globally in the first quarter, up from 184,877 a year earlier. Mr. Musk said rising input costs were causing difficulties after the price of raw materials ranging from lithium to nickel skyrocketed. “I think the official numbers really speak to the true level of inflation,” he said.
Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said that investors were relieved by Mr. Musk’s upbeat comments on manufacturing activity in Shanghai. Production at Tesla’s Shanghai factory was suspended at the end of March after the city ordered it closed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Perhaps most interestingly, Elon also said on Wednesday that Tesla will have a robotaxi by 2024. Yes, a car without a steering wheel or pedals, powered by Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, but not yet, completely self-driving.
From Automotive News:
The goal of the new car, which will use Tesla’s still incomplete “full self-driving” software, is to achieve the lowest cost-per-mile for a taxi, Musk said.
[…]
However, the charismatic CEO declined to provide further details when asked if the car would be sold to the public or used in a transportation service operated by the company.
“We don’t want to jump right into an exciting product announcement just yet, and said there’s likely to be a product event next year to provide more details,” Musk said.
Musk says Tesla’s predictions suggest a future robotaxi ride will cost less than a subsidized public bus or subway ticket.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
3rd gear: AutoNation profits also increase
Used cars are hot, because new cars are hot, because inventories are still falling, because these days you can still walk into a dealership and buy a car but it may not be the one you want, because The one you want sold a few minutes ago to some other asshole and is probably above the sticker price, too.
Either way, this is good news for AutoNation, America’s largest used car dealer, Reuters report.
Demand for personal vehicles has also been driven by massive stimulus measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s caused the average transaction price of a vehicle to hit a record high, according to auto industry consultants.
The company also said that its new-vehicle inventory was largely pre-ordered by customers.
AutoNation’s net income was $362.1 million, or $5.78 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $239.4 million, or $2.85 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue grew 14.4% to $6.75 billion.
4th gear: Hyundai profits too
Hyundai is expected to report larger profit in the first quarter, according to ReutersBecause of the large sales of Women’s Velosterthanks to the endless hype of car journalists. I’m kid. Actually mainly due to the price of Korean money.
Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) is likely to report a 4% rise in first-quarter profit as a weaker won boosted the value of the company’s exports and offset a lingering chip shortage, Sales fell in Russia and raw material costs rose.
For the quarter ended March 31, the Korean automaker is expected to report a net profit of 1.37 trillion won ($1.11 billion), according to Refinitiv SmartEEs estimates collected from 14 analysts, up from 1.32 trillion won a year earlier.
[…]
Kim Jin-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment Securities, said, “The weak won is the main driver for Hyundai.
“The rate of devaluation of the won was strong enough to offset all the problems, including chip shortages, spike in raw material prices and poor sales in Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “.
Hyundai never seems to be credited for being an amazingly successful business story that spans several decades, but makes no mistake.
5th Gear: Former agent jailed
A guy who used to work at New Rochelle Hyundai, in New Rochelle, New York – where The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed, and where your humble reporter lived a few months a decade ago, in a roommate with the taxi drivers, though none of which have anything to do with current news coverage – were sentenced to up to six years in prison last week for petty theft and tax fraud, According to Automotive News.
James Castellano joined New Rochelle Hyundai in 2017 when he transferred more than $307,000 in checks to his personal bank account, the New York State Department of Treasury and Taxation said.
Castellano has been charged with major charges of petty theft, as well as criminal tax fraud for failing to report the embezzled amount on his personal income tax returns. He pleaded guilty in May 2021.
Castellano was ordered to pay $307,610 in restitution to the dealer, the department said. He will also pay $20,455 to the state of New York.
patch report in 2020 on some details of the alleged scheme:
As part of their scheme, prosecutors said they illegally sold vehicles owned by New Rochelle Hyundai through Global Auto Sales LLC, a car dealership owned by the company. [Israel Viloria, 39,]and keep the proceeds from these sales.
Authorities said they listed, in New Rochelle Hyundai’s filings, details of vehicles not owned by Hyundai dealers.
That way, the dealer’s bank, JPMorgan Chase, made the business funds available to buy these cars. That cash, transferred to New Rochelle Hyundai’s account, helped cover up the theft of the car Viloria and Castellano were selling.
Castellano is also accused of stealing about $300,000 by depositing checks payable to New Rochelle Hyundai LLC into his personal bank account, according to prosecutors. Those checks are supposed to be received by the agent.
There is a completely outstanding Colombian restaurant in New Rochelle, I can say.
Reverse: GM
Neutral: How are you?
I am going on a business trip for a week next month and Delta informed me that there has been a schedule change for my flight. The change is that it will land a few minutes later than it was scheduled to do.
