New Developments For Tesla
Autopilot/Full Self Driving
Since my previous post Chinese media continued to bash Tesla (TSLA). This time it is all about Autopilot. See this tweet. To me it seems just a matter of time before China bans this functionality in Tesla cars.
Meanwhile in Germany there was a verdict forbidding recording and transferring the car surroundings and interior and sending that data to the US. I suppose this functionality is related to Autopilot as well.
Yes, using Autopilot is dangerous since almost everyone is tempted not always to keep an eye on the road. See here.
Inventory
New observations suggest inventory is increasing much. See here, here, and here. Tesla is preparing for selling most of its cars during the last 2 weeks of the quarter. Very few but fraudulent companies concentrate their revenue in the last 2 weeks of the quarter. It might be that Tesla is the exception but to me that seems extremely unlikely.
Speaking of inventory, according to this tweet Tesla owns many hundreds of registered cars in Norway. Does Tesla buy cars from itself?
D&O insurance
The rumor is the company can get D&O insurance except for Elon Musk. This is exceptional, see here. Also have a look at Montana Skeptic's article on D&O Insurance while it has not been put behind the paywall yet.
According to the article Musk gave the directors much less coverage than a real insurance policy provides. What I understand from the article is that Musk only has to pay at most $100 million of damages for the other directors and only if Tesla does not have the cash, so if it cannot raise.
Montana Skeptic also wonders how D&O risks of Elon Musk and other directors can be separated since lack of board oversight over Musk increases the risks of having to pay out damages.
Quality
As models and cars age more and more quality issues surface. The newest issue is that the model X can lose bits of its roof. I think this defect is dangerous and deserves a recall. At least that is what other car manufacturers would do, see here.
That was published by InsideEvs, a website that used to be extremely positive about Tesla. From the number of negative Tesla articles they recently published it seems they have drastically changed their course.
Insiders keep selling
With big announcements at Battery Day coming next week Mark Spiegel wonders why the relevant top manager sells so many shares.
Bottom line
Since my previous post fundamental developments have been negative for the stock, see above. Therefore my opinion on the stock is still: strong sell.
Analyst's Disclosure: I am/we are short TSLA.
Global Deep Value Stocks is a long only newsletter. I do not discuss stocks like Tesla in Global Deep Value Stocks.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.