TxAG#2011 said:
Do you care about making money or do you care about Tesla's PE ratio?
Not of what you are saying matters in the current environment.
I look at PE ratio combined with other fundamentals. Consumer psychology, market share, competitive advantages, all go into my investment outlook. Are they doing something well that their competition isn't. Compared to
other investment opportunities, how certain do I feel about the company's position 5 and 10 years from now.
If a company checks all of the boxes, then I really don't care about PE ratio, but for me Tesla doesn't check the boxes.
My assessment of consumer psychology is that Tesla is at risk of being a fad, and lower priced models might ultimately dilute their brand image in the long term. Their original luxury consumers probably rotate cars every 3-5 years and may jump ship to other luxury makers when their electric offerings are ready (Porsche and Audi for example). PE ratio just says it might be a fad for investors too.
The winning play would have been to keep the Tesla name for the high end model S and Roadster cars, and put the model 3 and Y, the lower priced vehicles under a different name. There is a reason you have Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, etc.
To Teslas credit what they do have going for them is being the first brand name that consumers associate with "electric car". Owning a word or phrase is good.