Tesla buy or sell? Bubble?Reasons to buy Tsla
Although electric cars occupy a small portion of the global automobile market, Tesla has acquired a large market share within this niche segment. Tesla has a little less then 1% marketshare worldwide which is impressive for a young car company like Tesla. Especially in the electric segment where it has 16% marketshare in 2019. The company has a strong performance adn the unique design helps the sales. For example the preorder of the Tesla Truck. Also the solar and storage deployments will probably witness significant growth aided by the positive reception of the Megapack and Powerwall products.
The delivery of Model 3 has risen significantly, which counts for a big part of the companies overall deliveries since it the best selling car of Tesla so far. Besides Model 3, Model Y is also improving Tesla’s prospects. The construction progress for Gigafactory 4 in Berlin and Gigafactory 5 in Austin are also underway, with production from both plants expected to start this year.
With China being the biggest EV market, Tesla’s ambitious production plans in the country bode well. Robust production of Model 3 from the new Gigafactory in Shanghai bode well for its future growth. The Shanghai factory is ramping up well and commands a higher market share in the Chinese EV market.
Over a multi-year horizon, Tesla anticipates achieving 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries. Meanwhile, low leverage of Tesla offers financial flexibility. Notably, its long-term debt-to-capital ratio stands at 0.31, lower than its industry's 0.54.
Historically, from 2016 to 2020 sales of TSLA increased in average of 45% from one year to another, with an estimate of 49% sales growth for 2021 and 33% for 2022.
The liquidity and Solvency of Tesla are both scoring good which means Tesla is able to pay of short term as long term obligations.
Reasons to sell Tesla inc
The company’s high R&D and SG&A costs do raise concerns. During the last reported quarter, R&D and SG&A costs were up both yearly and sequentially. Capex soared 138% year over year and is likely to increase this year as well, thereby affecting cash flow and margins.
Tesla's excessive reliance on credit sales remain a concern. In 2020, Tesla posted a net GAAP income of $721 million. Without the regulatory credit sales, the firm would have incurred a loss to the tune of $859 million.
Stretched valuation of Tesla is a concern. Going by the EV/EBITDA multiple, which is often used to value auto stocks, Tesla is currently trading at a trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA multiple of 187.9, considerably higher than the industry average of 52.41. The firm’s P/S ratio of 17.3 also compares unfavorably to the industry’s 3.05.
Tesla bubble?
Based on the future outlook of the industry and the company and considering all the discussion around TSLA bubble, it can be assessed which will be the fair value for the company at the moment. For this, the EPS reported for last quarter was taken and annualised which gives us 0,96$ per share. Based on recent developement and estimation, it is forecasted that Tesla will have an annual growth in earnings of 40% each year, first 5 years and 10% from year 6 to year 15.
For safety reason 15 years is the number of years we will calculate with as there is a reasonable time to recover an investment. The forecasted EPS after 15 years based on this growth is around 12,17$ per share. Multiplying these with a decent P/E ratio of 35, the fair price would be currently below 500$, while the real price is just under 800$.
Buy or not?
Although it is clear that the company is the market leader and may outperform without problem any other company from the industry for the never ending future, however, following value investing principles, the current price is out of real position and may lead to the fact that the stock is overvalued.
Thus, the stock may face a corrective action in the near future. However, it is a bit funny to observe that even in a period of instability and uncertainty and in this Covid-19 situation, where people use the cars a lot less, Tesla kept it's position, and even increased its position, without recording great losses.
This could mean that value trading as we know, may not be applicable anymore and the investors should adjust and adapt trading principles and behaviours accordingly.
If you are a value investor, like I am, then Tesla is not the right choice to invest in.
