If Tesla stock continues to rise, CEO Elon Musk could have a big pay day

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Tesla has had a strong start to 2020 and, if it continues, CEO Elon Musk could be in for a big payday. Tim Higgins, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and Bob Lutz, former vice chairman of General Motors, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss.

Tesla delivered a record 112,000 vehicles globally during the fourth quarter, significantly topping Wall Street estimates and achieving CEO Elon Musk’s year-end sales goal.

Wall Street expected Tesla to deliver 106,000 vehicles to customers during the fourth quarter, which would have just met the company’s annual delivery goal of between 360,000 and 400,000 vehicles, a 45% to 65% increase from 2018.

Tesla said it delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles last year, an impressive 50% jump from 2018.

Shares of the electric-car maker surged more than 4% in morning trading to $448, a 49% rise rise over the last 12 months.

Tesla’s deliveries are a closely watched number in the industry, providing the closest proximation to sales. The company said it counts a car as delivered “if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct.” The deliveries number is a barometer for how the company is performing ahead of releasing its quarterly earnings.

Tesla said it delivered 92,550 Model 3 cars and 19,450 Model S and X vehicles during the fourth quarter. The company was expected to deliver 87,900 Model 3, 9,800 Model S and 9,300 Model X vehicles, according to an average of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Investors were also watching production numbers. In the second and third quarters of 2019, Tesla delivered more cars than it produced. The production versus deliveries gap widened in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, Tesla manufactured 96,155 vehicles and delivered 97,000 vehicles. In the fourth quarter, it manufactured 104,891 vehicles and delivered 112,000.

The electric-car maker said it has produced just under 1,000 cars that are ready for sale at its new factory in Shanghai. Tesla started delivering vehicles to Chinese customers late last month.

Tesla said it will “continue to focus on expanding production” in both the U.S. and China, where the company reports it has demonstrated production run-rate capability of greater than 3,000 units per week. That production rate, according to Tesla, excludes local battery pack production that began in late December.

Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, called Tesla’s deliveries to end the year “impressive” and “another step in the right direction” for its Fremont assembly plant in California. Soundly beating Wall Street’s estimates in the quarter “was another major feather in the cap for Musk & Co.,” he said.

“While part of this recent rally has been a massive short covering, it has also been driven by underlying fundamental improvement as the company’s ability to impressively not just talk the talk but walk the walk has been noticed by the Street and the optimism around the story has grown markedly from the dark days seen earlier in 2019,” Ives said in a note to investors Friday morning.

Earlier this week, Musk made personal appearances at the company’s Fremont car plant and delivery center to cheer on employees and Tesla fans who volunteered to deliver cars to customers ahead of the year-end deadline.

Customers who received their cars in 2019 qualified for an $1,875 tax credit. But if the car was ordered in 2019, and delivered in 2020, they would not qualify.

Tesla is now shipping its vehicles to more locations around the world than ever before, including in the U.K. and China.

This broader customer base is one reason why Tesla assured investors in the third quarter that it would hit the low end of its prior guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries for the full year. The company also wrote then: “Deliveries should increase sequentially and annually, with some expected fluctuations from seasonality. We are highly confident in exceeding 360,000 deliveries this year.”



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These guys don't even know the details about Tesla cars and they are giving advice on its stock.

Shogun-as
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You guys are the farts he's talking about.

TheNewJerseyan
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Or how *Elon Musk* would say it:

“When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people said, ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.”

wolfofdubai
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Hit like if you own Tesla stock or want to buy!

AccordingAdam
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Boomers trying to interpret Elon Musk tweets is hilarious

duckmasterflex
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I thought Bob said there's no battery advantages, no tech advantages, non what so ever. Now he is saying that he is not criticizing the car?

duketlam
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Bob needs to just retire. Now he's saying Elon finally listened to him? Sir, you're a joke. You know nothing. You hyped the Chevy bolt for one!!!!

lankale
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Funny how they switched to talking about farts once they realized Bob Lutz wasn't gonna say anything negative about Tesla.

jodumas
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Our Chinese market is big enough to save Tesla for years.

旮旯北京
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"ahah Musk is so immature!" - proceeds to make poop jokes and giggles in the background for the rest of the segment

DavidFregoli
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Purchasing a stock may seem straightforward, but selecting the correct stock without a proven strategy can be exceedingly challenging. I've been working on expanding my $210K portfolio for a while, and my primary obstacle is the lack of clear entry and exit strategies. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

BarbaraLouise-ir
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I see more maturity with Elon.





Elon: I put the art in fart

JamaicanMeCrazy
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Lifetime bear goes bullish*
CNBC: bob can you shed some light on this?!?!

zbLoodlust
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What Bob Lutz did not say is what he learned from the success of Tesla.

louggy
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Entire panel has no idea about the in-car fart app?

No wonder..

SolvingTheMoneyProblem
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to be honest, never in my living life i thought i would hear what bob lutz said

majeedmohtesham
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My stocks have shot the the roof . Tesla was my first stock I ever invested in. I’m truly blessed to be a share holder

Staxagrip
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Bob lutz: "my criticism was never of the company but only of elon musk" haha really? U said people were not interested in electric cars.

TabsT-vyjy
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"Do you have any insides on this?" > Talking about fart joke. These clowns serious? 😂

zwanzr
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To hear a staunch critic change his mind shows how Tesla is gaining legitimacy among conservative investors. This is a big deal.

shauna