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Tesla Inc.s estimate-smashing deliveries of electric vehicles in the first quarter suggest boss Elon Musks bet on growth in China and Europe is starting to pay off.

The results marked a strong start to a year in which Musk, the companys chief executive officer, is counting on global operations to help scale-up production and sales. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla delivered 184,800 cars worldwide in the years first three months, trouncing the 169,850 average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and beating the fourth-quarter figure by about 4,000 vehicles.

The quarter was a massive home run in the eyes of the bulls, Dan Ives at Wedbush wrote in a research note Friday. On Sunday, he upgraded Tesla to outperform from neutral, and raised his 12-month price target for the stock to $1,000, from $950. Teslas shares could hit $1,300 in a long-term bull case scenario, he said.

The 1Q delivery numbers released on Friday was a paradigm changer and shows that the pent-up demand globally for Teslas Model 3/Y is hitting its next stage of growth as part of a global green tidal wave underway, Ives said in the April 4 note. We now believe Tesla could exceed 850k deliveries for the year with 900k a stretch goal, despite the chip shortage and various supply chain issues lingering across the auto sector.

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Musk is pushing into China -- already the worlds largest automotive market, including for EVs -- to gain a foothold amid competition from local electric-vehicle startups as well as Volkswagen AG. Auto sales are forecast to rise in the nation this year for the first time since 2017, and in March, Premier Li Keqiang told the National Peoples Congress the government will help boost the number of EV charging stations and battery-swapping facilities.

Teslas volume stands apart from most other automakers, who are mainly showing declines in part because of electronic-chip constraints, analysts at Jefferies said in a research note. Shares should respond well to the Q1 delivery data.

After a remarkable run in 2020 that saw its stock price surge by more than 700%, Teslas shares fell roughly 6% this year through April 1. Friday was a market holiday in the U.S.

While the EV sector and Tesla shares have been under significant pressure so far this year, we believe the tide is turning on the Street and the eye popping delivery numbers coming out of China cannot be ignored, Ives said.

Tesla recently refreshed the Model S sedan and the X, an SUV. No Model S and X vehicles were made in the quarter, and only 2,000 were delivered in total.

We are encouraged by the strong reception of the Model Y in China and are quickly progressing to full production capacity, Tesla said in a statement. The new Model S and Model X have also been exceptionally well-received, the company said, adding that its in the early stages of ramping production.

Cowen & Co. raised its Model Y forecasts for this year off the back of the robust numbers.

Receptivity to the Model Y in China was always a gray area in our minds, since there was never disclosure on deposit/interest levels from Tesla, analysts led by Jeffrey Osborne wrote in an April 4 report. Given the upside in 1Q21 coupled with the positive tone in the release, we are raising our Model Y forecasts for 2021 and would expect the Street to do so as well.

Osborne added that production at 180,338 for the quarter was pleasing, suggesting that the lingering semiconductor shortage plaguing other auto OEMs is not affecting Tesla in a big way despite the two shutdowns at Fremont in February.

Tesla currently makes the Model S and X only at its factory in Fremont, California, and the smaller Model 3 and Y both there and at its plant in Shanghai. It plans to build two more factories this year, one in Texas and another near Berlin. The company doesnt break out sales by geography, but the U.S. and China are its largest markets and nearly all the sales were of the Model 3 and Y.

With production at the Fremont factory temporarily shutting in February over parts supply issues, Teslas higher-margin Shanghai plant will account for a bigger share of volume in the quarter, which should support profitability, Jefferies said in the note.

Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn warned in January that production would be low due to the transition to the revamped products, while the global semiconductor shortage and delays at ports were also expected to weigh on the quarter.

Tesla said its delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative and final numbers could vary by as much as 0.5% or more.

The quarterly delivery figure is widely seen as a barometer of demand for both Teslas vehicles and consumer interest in electric vehicles worldwide as legacy automakers roll out electric cars of their own.

(Updates with Wedbush most recent note from third paragraph.)

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Tesla China Demand Fuels 'Home Run' Quarter for Deliveries - Bloomberg

Contents

Serbian-American engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) made dozens of breakthroughs in the production, transmission and application of electric power. He invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. Though he was famous and respected, he was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial successunlike his early employer and chief rival, Thomas Edison.

Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox church and his mother managed the familys farm. In 1863 Teslas brother Daniel was killed in a riding accident. The shock of the loss unsettled the 7-year-old Tesla, who reported seeing visionsthe first signs of his lifelong mental illnesses.

Did you know? During the 1890s Mark Twain struck up a friendship with inventor Nikola Tesla. Twain often visited him in his lab, where in 1894 Tesla photographed the great American writer in one of the first pictures ever lit by phosphorescent light.

Tesla studied math and physics at the Technical University of Graz and philosophy at the University of Prague. In 1882, while on a walk, he came up with the idea for a brushless AC motor, making the first sketches of its rotating electromagnets in the sand of the path. Later that year he moved to Paris and got a job repairing direct current (DC) power plants with the Continental Edison Company. Two years later he immigrated to the United States.

Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 and was hired as an engineer at Thomas Edisons Manhattan headquarters. He worked there for a year, impressing Edison with his diligence and ingenuity. At one point Edison told Tesla he would pay $50,000 for an improved design for his DC dynamos. After months of experimentation, Tesla presented a solution and asked for the money. Edison demurred, saying, Tesla, you dont understand our American humor. Tesla quit soon after.

After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own Tesla Electric Light Company and a stint digging ditches for $2 a day, Tesla found backers to support his research into alternating current. In 1887 and 1888 he was granted more than 30 patents for his inventions and invited to address the American Institute of Electrical Engineers on his work. His lecture caught the attention of George Westinghouse, the inventor who had launched the first AC power system near Boston and was Edisons major competitor in the Battle of the Currents.

Westinghouse hired Tesla, licensed the patents for his AC motor and gave him his own lab. In 1890 Edison arranged for a convicted New York murderer to be put to death in an AC-powered electric chaira stunt designed to show how dangerous the Westinghouse standard could be.

Buoyed by Westinghouses royalties, Tesla struck out on his own again. But Westinghouse was soon forced by his backers to renegotiate their contract, with Tesla relinquishing his royalty rights.

In the 1890s Tesla invented electric oscillators, meters, improved lights and the high-voltage transformer known as the Tesla coil. He also experimented with X-rays, gave short-range demonstrations of radio communication two years before Guglielmo Marconi and piloted a radio-controlled boat around a pool in Madison Square Garden. Together, Tesla and Westinghouse lit the 1891 Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago and partnered with General Electric to install AC generators at Niagara Falls, creating the first modern power station.

In 1895 Teslas New York lab burned, destroying years worth of notes and equipment. Tesla relocated to Colorado Springs for two years, returning to New York in 1900. He secured backing from financier J.P. Morgan and began building a global communications network centered on a giant tower at Wardenclyffe, on Long Island. But funds ran out and Morgan balked at Teslas grandiose schemes.

Tesla lived his last decades in a New York hotel, working on new inventions even as his energy and mental health faded. His obsession with the number three and fastidious washing were dismissed as the eccentricities of genius. He spent his final years feedingand, he claimed, communicating withthe citys pigeons.

Tesla died in his room on January 7, 1943. Later that year the U.S. Supreme Court voided four of Marconis key patents, belatedly acknowledging Teslas innovations in radio. The AC system he championed and improved remains the global standard for power transmission.

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Nikola Tesla - Inventions, Facts & Death - HISTORY

Tesla has filed an appeal against a National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) ruling, which commanded CEO Elon Musk to delete an anti-union tweet.

The company is also requesting that the US Court of Appeals review the board's decisionthat the company breached US labor law after it fired a union activist, Reuters reported.

The tweet in question was posted in 2018. Musk wrote:"Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare."

Last month, the NLRB ordered Musk to remove the tweet and publicly address the unlawful tweet at all of its sites, and include speech that says, "WE WILL take appropriate steps to ensure Musk complies with our directive," according to Reuters.

The NLRB told Tesla to reinstate a former employee and revoke a ban on the sharing of union details in its car park without prior company permission.

Tesla workers at its Fremont plant had been trying to form a union with the United Auto Workers, amid apparently grueling working conditions, as Insider previously reported.

Tesla employees also accused the company of firing workers who were staying at home during the pandemic, despite previously telling staff they were able to do so.

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Tesla is appealing against a labor board ruling that ordered Elon Musk to delete an anti-union tweet - Business Insider

TipRanks

Working the stock market is a data game. Getting the best information, in a timely way, and knowing how to use it, are keys to success. So, here are some numbers to think about. According to industry market research, artificial intelligence companies and products are on the verge of explosive growth. The AI market was valued at $9.5 billion in 2018, over $27 billion in 2019, and is projected to exceed $250 billion in 2027. AI refers to the use of data to simulate human intelligence processes including learning, reasoning and self-correction by machines. AI is making its way into almost every industry. Data collection and collation, automation systems from factories to self-driving cars, even online shopping site they all benefit from AI applications. And this has not been ignored by Wall Street. Analysts say that plenty of compelling investments can be found within this space. With this in mind, weve opened up TipRanks database to find two AI stocks that have gotten the seal of approval from 5-star analysts, stock pros rated among the top 3% of their peers. Lets find out why they recommend these two AI plays. Veritone, Inc. (VERI) The first AI stock we're looking at is Veritone, a software company whose flagship product, an AI-powered operating system called aiWARE, allows the user to coordinate machine learning models and integrate disparate data sources including audio and visual into actionable intelligence results. The system boasts an open architecture, and has been applied in the entertainment, government, legal, and media sectors. At the beginning of March, Veritone released its 4Q20 earnings, showing record quarterly revenue at $16.8 million a year-over-year gain of 35%. The increase was driven by yoy sales gains in aiWARE SaaS, which was up 53%, and Advertising, which was up 50%. However, Veritone stock saw a 49% fall from the peak value it hit in February. Investors liked the strong financials, but there is some worry about the companys future guidance. Management is predicting a non-GAAP net loss in the range of $3.9 million to $4.4 million in 1Q21, and while that represents a 38% improvement at the mid-point from 1Q20, investors do want to see a profit. Roth Capital's 5-star analyst Darren Aftahi, however, thinks this new, lower stock price could offer new investors an opportunity to get into VERI on the cheap. Aftahi sees this stock as a well-positioned AI growth story. VERI put up better 4Q results, but more importantly, accelerating topline growth in both AI SaaS and Advertising (both over 50%). If our assumption about its Content and Licensing business returning to 2019 levels (with modest growth) is correct in 2021, it implies its 2021 guide (which was much better by the way) for advertising and AI SaaS is north of 40% growth (~30% for Advertising and ~low 60%s for AI). Most importantly, its AI SaaS line was guided to 60-65% growth, showing a doubling of growth y/y, Aftahi noted. In line with his comments, Aftahi rates the stock a Buy, and his $50 price target implies growth of 104% in the year ahead. (To watch Aftahis track record, click here) All in all, with a share price of $24.53 and a consensus average price target of $38.75, VERI shares offer investors a chance for 58% share growth this year. The analyst consensus rating, a Moderate Buy, is based on 3 Buy reviews and 1 Sell. (See VERI stock analysis on TipRanks) Verint Systems (VRNT) Verint stock has appreciated 107% over the last 12 months, with a large part of that gain coming in a 31% jump at the beginning of February. That jump came in reaction to the companys split into two entities Cognyte, the spin-off, took on the parents intelligence and cyber operations, while Verint continued as a pure-play, AI-powered customer engagement service. The company uses its combination of market experience and AI and analytic products to enable customers to optimize their automation, knowledge, and workforce. Verints fiscal year 2021 ended on January 31, the day before the split, and the company reported its Q4 and full year results at the end of March. Those results beat expectations for the quarter, with $349 million in total revenue a 3% year-over-year gain. For the full year, however, the $1.27 billion in revenue was a shade below the $1.3 billion reported in the previous year. The Q4 data bodes for the Verint in its pure-play customer engagement incarnation, as those AI cloud sectors grew more than 30% year-over-year in that quarter. Calling Verint a "unique AI engagement company," Oppenheimer's 5-star analyst Timothy Horan sees the new Verint in a strong position to move forward. VRNT reported solid 4Q21 earnings and is now a pure play customer engagement AI company following its split. VRNT is successfully executing its transition to a SaaS/ Cloud model. New perpetual license bookings (PLE) was up 15% this quarter. The transition away from licensed sales is difficult but largely behind it as revenue growth should accelerate from this quarter onward. Cloud demand has seen a healthy 50/50 split between existing and new customers. Getting to the bottom line, Horan adds, It exited the year with strong momentum in cloud and bookings. We think it can continue to sign large cloud deals across contact center and other verticals. These are upbeat comments, and Horan backs them with an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating, and a $60 price target indicating room for ~32% growth in the next 12 months. (To watch Horans track record, click here) Overall, there is broad agreement on Wall Street that Verint is a stock to Buy, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating. This is based on 6 recent positive reviews. The shares have an average price target of $59.33, suggesting ~30% upside potential from the current trading price of $45.50. (See VRNT stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for AI stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, GM, JetBlue, Lululemon, Tesla And More - Yahoo Finance

The Lucid Motors boss Peter Rawlinson is fluent in the language of the new breed of electric carmaker: he wants to save the planet and he wants to do it fast.

The California carmaker is only starting production of its hotly anticipated first model in the second half of this year but it has quickly come to be seen as one of the leaders in the pack of would-be rivals to Tesla. A recent $24bn (17bn) deal to list on US stock markets will give it $4.6bn in funds to play with.

Such is the urgency of the impending environmental crisis facing the world, according to Rawlinson, that Lucid is hoping to work with mass-market carmakers to get its technology into production as soon as possible.

Lucid has been approached by a few car companies this year over licensing deals, Rawlinson told the Guardian. Those talks have yielded nothing tangible yet and the prospect of earning revenues from partnerships with other carmakers, he says, remains very speculative. However, there is mouthwatering potential, and the right partner could yield an affordable electric car within four years, he says.

He declined to comment when asked if Lucid had been approached by Apple, the iPhone maker that is considering making an electric car.

The big picture is, Ive got this dichotomy, Rawlinson said, speaking via video call from California. The dichotomy is we need to get millions of $25,000 cars into production fast to save the planet. Weve got the right technology but as a company I cant get there for about eight, nine years, and its too late.

A deal with carmakers such as Honda, Hyundai or Toyota (named by Rawlinson) would be the icing on the cake for a company still without a single car sale which has become one of the flagbearers of the US electric car Spac boom (or bubble, according to taste). Rivals that are also using special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) to list in the US include the UKs Arrival and the USs Canoo, Fisker, Lordstown and Rivian on top of Chinese contenders such as Li Auto, Nio and Xpeng.

What sets Lucids Spac apart is its size. The $4.6bn funding it will get from the listing, if completed, will include $2.1bn directly from the Spac cash shell and another $2.5bn from investors led by Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, which is its biggest shareholder.

That arguably makes Rawlinson Britains most influential carmaker albeit one firmly based in California.

Rawlinson grew up in south Wales, going to school in Cowbridge, near Cardiff. He considered art school but instead studied mechanical engineering at Imperial College London. He worked at Jaguar and Lotus in the UK before joining an ambitious new electric carmaker. That company was Elon Musks Tesla, and Rawlinson ended up as chief engineer for Teslas Model S.

In 2013, Rawlinson moved to Atieva, which made batteries for the electric Formula E race series. Atieva eventually decided to move into car production, and Rawlinson persuaded it to change its name to Lucid.

Rawlinson is following the Tesla business model closely, from targeting its first cars at wealthier buyers through to starting a home battery business on the side. Rawlinson is complimentary about his former employer, saying it has the best electric technology in production today.

Tomorrow might be a different matter. Lucids claims for its cars have not yet been proven but they are extraordinary.

The Lucid Air, with production starting in the second half of this year, is aiming for a range of 517 miles for its $161,000 flagship model. Such a long driving distance between recharging would put a stop to the range anxiety, which so many motorists cite as a drawback to buying electric.

The Airs promised acceleration of 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds would also outpace a Ferrari but with zero exhaust carbon emissions.

There is not one big technological reveal for how this grand aim will be achieved. Instead, Lucid is slicing off inefficiencies wherever it can find them, with battery, gears, power electronics and motor all developed in-house. Examples of important developments are batteries that have a simpler manufacturing process, or a motor that can have coolant pumped directly through it, allowing more efficient heat management.

Lucid employs almost 2,000 people, with 3,000 workers expected to be added in the US by the end of 2022. The factory it has built in Arizona can theoretically make 34,000 cars a year. By 2023 it is hoping for about 90,000 units when it will be selling a seven-seater SUV that currently has the moniker Project Gravity.

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By 2025 it speculates it will have revenues of $14bn which would represent an astonishing growth rate. Five years after that it hopes to produce 500,000 cars a year, possibly with factories in China and the Middle East. That would still only be a fraction of mass-volume carmakers with similar valuations but it would not be for a lack of ambition on Lucids part.

All mankind will benefit from the technology we bring in this high-end product, Rawlinson said, because it will cascade down to more affordable cars that were going to make in the future.

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Meet the Briton leading a Tesla rival who wants to save the planet - The Guardian

HyperChanges Gali Russell (aka @GFilche on Twitter) released a video on why he thinks Tesla will be the worlds biggest company. Just last month, Elon Musk tweeted that there was a >0% chance that Tesla could become the biggest company, as an obvious joke. While that seemed to just be a joke (theres a greater than 0% chance of basically everything), Gali wanted to make the point that Tesla really could become the worlds largest company, and I agree with him. (Note: Im a small shareholder in Tesla and fully believe in its mission.)

Tesla is poised to be the worlds largest company. Its not an exaggeration. Im not joking. I truly think that is about to be whats gonna happen, Gali said at the beginning of his video. Gali explained that although you see a few Teslas in every city, in a couple of years its going to be a combination of the 3, Y, and a cheaper Model 2 which could also be a robotaxi.

He also mentioned the Tesla ridesharing app, where you will be able to request a clean swag sustainable ride wherever you go, if all goes according to plan.

This is going to be an absolute game changer for many cities in the economy and unlock trillions of value for Tesla.

Gali explained how a $45 billion run rate in revenue justifies $520 trillion within the next few years. Tesla has two mega financial tailwinds, he explained.

1. Tesla is producing its vehicles at a rapid pace that is compounding from 1 million this year to what Gali estimates will be 10 million in about 5 years.

2. Teslas profit per vehicle can go from around $10,000 to a range of $50,000 to $70,000.

Gali pointed out that this is a double trifecta not only are vehicles produced going up quickly, but also the profit per vehicle produced is increasing significantly. This is just the FSD, robotaxi business that were talking about, he pointed out. Gali believes that this financial tailwind will take Tesla to $3050 billion in earnings extremely quickly and noted that the math justifies itself. As proof, Gali mentioned Teslas Q4 2020 figures. In that quarter, Tesla was selling FSD (Full Self-Driving) at $10,000 and Tesla delivered over 500,000 EVs. (Remember that impossible milestone?)

Were looking at a $2 billion operating cash flow in a single quarter. Thats $12 billion a year, he pointed out, adding that he thinks Tesla will not just double or triple that but actually multiply that by 10 times. In a nutshell, Tesla will within the next 5 years be building 8 as many cars and be 4 as profitable per car produced. Gali also noted in the video that Teslas annual operating cash flow run-rate could go from $12 billion (Q4 2020) to $420 billion at around or less than 10 million cars per year.

One of the largest things in the market that people do not understand is that Teslas FSD and robotaxi plan is such a big deal or just dont believe in it. The fact that FSD exists, its in the wild. People can use it. Theyre training it and making it better every single day, Gali explained.

Theres 2,000 that have this software, but theyre on the cusp of rolling it out to a million vehicles and I think this why Elon let it slip that Tesla might become the worlds most valuable company, because the bottom line is once people realize this game-changing feature is not some pie in the sky thing, its not insanely far away but its literally here you can literally self-drive your Tesla today theyre going to roll this out. This is going to immediately justify a price increase of FSD from $10,000 to I think $25,000 is what I would say its worth right now with the FSD at the current level assuming it doesnt get better.

In the video, Gali showed a document that detailed the revenue in 2019 of state-owned oil companies and noted the peak oil revenue for 2019 from the worlds nine largest state-owned oil companies was $1.5 trillion.

These nine companies that are listed in the document (in the video) are:

Gali explained why companies like Ford and GM have only $50 billion market caps. They dont really extract a lot of the value. A lot of thats going to part suppliers. A lot of thats going to dealers. A lot of thats going to the oil companies. Automakers, in comparison to Tesla, are not making that much money on each vehicle sale.

Tesla, Gali explained, is vertically integrating charging for both energy creation and energy consumption, among other things. Tesla has its own Supercharger network and does not have dealerships. Teslas soaking up the market capitalization of not just automotive companies, but truly all sorts of energy companies. When you add up the revenue of all of this, its trillions of dollars in revenue.

Being the propulsion technology of humanity is multi trillions of dollars in revenue.

Gali points to what Tesla is doing in Texas. Instead of having a peaker plant to supply energy to the grid in Texas, Tesla is using its battery technology to do it better and cheaper while making it financially viable.

Gambit Energy Storage, a subsidiary of Tesla, is working on a massive energy storage project near Houston which will have a capacity of 100 megawatts enough to power about 20,000 homes and should go into operation this June. You can read more about that here.

This is just the start of another multi-trillion dollar problem that Teslas going to fix. Because once were charging 8 million Teslas on the grid, the grids going to break. Its already super unstable. Gali explained that much like what is happening in the financial markets, everything is going into this decentralized future (think Bitcoin) the energy markets are going from centralization to decentralization as well.

This is just the first half of Galis video. I encourage you to watch the full thing for yourself. Its exciting to think about the future and know that clean energy and sustainability are the focus of that bright future. You can watch Galis video here or via the embed above.

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HyperChange: Tesla Will Be The Worlds Biggest Company - CleanTechnica

While Covid-19 ravaged the broader American economy, the largest U.S. employers added more jobs than they cut.

Overall, global employment rose by about 370,000 people among the 286 members of the S&P 500 that filed annual reports between July 1 and March 31, a Wall Street Journal analysis of securities filings shows.

Those gains masked wrenching changes and job losses for workers in many companies and industries. And the net gain in jobs for 2020 wouldnt have happened without a single company: Amazon . com Inc.

The giant internet retailer added 500,000 workers around the world during the yearmore than 400,000 of them in the U.S. Amazon created nearly as many jobs last year as the 136 other companies in the Journal analysis that added workers.

By hiring that many people, we were not only able to deliver essential items for our customers during a critical time, but also provide an opportunity to those who lost their jobs or saw their hours cut because of Covid, said Beth Galetti, Amazons senior vice president for human resources. Amazon became an employment beacon for hundreds of American communities. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are voting on whether to unionize.

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Tesla, Facebook, FedEx Hired Through the Pandemic as GE, Marriott, Others Shed Jobs - The Wall Street Journal

Edmunds' test team recently published the results of its real-world range testing for electric vehicles. Notably, every Tesla the team tested in 2020 came up short of matching the EPA's range estimate. Almost all other EVs Edmunds tested met or exceeded those estimates.

That result, as you can likely guess, ruffled some feathers at Tesla headquarters.

A CHALLENGE FROM TESLA

The lackluster results prompted the automaker to reach out to the Edmunds test team. Tesla's engineers disputed our figures and argued that by stopping our EV range tests at zero indicated miles, rather than pressing on until the battery died, we were underestimating their vehicles' true range.

Tesla said its vehicles have a safety buffer that ensures drivers can keep going even when the indicated range displayed zero miles. And when you factored in this buffer, Tesla argued, it would allow their vehicles to match the EPA range estimates, which are typically measured when the battery is fully depleted.

It was a challenge we at Edmunds were up for, so we rented a 7.5-mile-long closed-course oval at an unaffiliated automaker's proving ground in California's Mojave Desert. This facility allowed us to safely drive five EVs until their battery power completely ran out. Tesla provided a Model 3 Long Range for us to test. We also brought along the Edmunds-owned Model 3 Standard Range Plus and Model Y Performance used in our original range testing, plus two non-Teslas for comparison purposes: a Ford Mustang Mach-E and an Volkswagen ID.4. These were also provided by their manufacturers.

THE TEST

Most in-car range meters factor in your recent driving habits when forecasting the remaining range. Edmunds' editors needed to drive the vehicles in the same manner to normalize the range meters and provide a level playing field.

At the test track, we drove the five EVs at a common highway speed of 65 mph, with the automatic climate control set to 72 degrees, audio off, no accessories plugged in, and with drivers rotating in one-hour shifts, until the batteries were depleted. Once each vehicle's range estimate indicated zero miles, we measured how far it could go before coming to a complete stop.

Miles Traveled Past Zero

Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range: 7.3 miles

Tesla Model Y Performance: 12.6 miles

Volkswagen ID.4: 12.9 miles

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus: 17.6 miles

Tesla Model 3 Long Range: 25.9 miles

Notice how the buffer can vary even within the same brand. The Model 3 Long Range went twice as far as the Model Y. What's more, there was no indication how far you could keep going since all vehicles simply read zero miles remaining. For all we knew, the cars could stop at any moment.

BOLSTERING OUR RESULTS

We also ran a control test on the Edmunds' EV range route with the Model 3 Long Range and Model Y Performance, driving them to the end of their battery life on public roads. The Model Y traveled 11 miles past zero and the Model 3 went an extra 17.5 miles; both were less than the buffers we experienced at the test track.

We asked Tesla about this discrepancy in the reserve range. The automaker said that the buffer was based on a combination of near-past conditions and instantaneous conditions, essentially the weather and terrain variation, which was why "the buffer cannot be defined exactly to a number every time."

TAKEAWAYS FOR THE EV SHOPPER

Some Teslas would be capable of meeting their EPA estimates in Edmunds' real-world range test if we included their reserve battery range, or the distance we traveled running beyond the point of zero indicated miles left.

But even in this scenario, there would be requirements such as driving conservatively in a temperate climate and using Tesla's maximum battery charge, even though Tesla recommends this for long-distance trips only.

The majority of Teslas we've tested so far four of the six do not meet their EPA estimates even allowing for a safety buffer. Furthermore, almost every other EV Edmunds has tested met or exceeded EPA estimates without the need to include their safety buffers.

Potential Tesla shoppers should know that to use the full range as advertised, they need to feel comfortable going past the zero indicated mile mark. This is not only risky, but it also requires the owner to deeply discharge the battery, which isn't recommended for the long-term health of the battery.

EDMUNDS SAYS: Edmunds' EV range test isn't meant to be the definitive word on a vehicle's range but rather a real-world complement to the laboratory-based EPA testing. We'll continue to test to an indicated zero because we'd never advise customers to rely on the unpredictable buffer range.

_______

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive websiteEdmunds. Ronald Montoya is a senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.

RELATED LINKS:

Testing Tesla'sRange Anxiety.

Why electric vehicleranges varyfrom EPA estimate.

EdmundsBest Electric Carsof 2021 and 2022.

Electric CarRange and Consumption.

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Edmunds puts Tesla's range to the test - Chattanooga Times Free Press

In its March 25decision, the NLRB unanimously held that: (1) Tesla violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) after prohibiting employees from talking to the media; (2) Tesla did not violate the Act by calling employees into a meeting to discuss their potential unionization; and (3) Tesla must order CEO Elon Musk to delete his tweet about the employees attempt to unionize, as it was unlawfully coercive in violation of the Act.

Media Contact Provision of Confidentiality Agreement Violated the Act

In 2016, Tesla required its employees to sign a confidentiality agreement in response to leaks of confidential company information. As part of the agreement, Tesla reminded its employees that it is never OK to communicate with the media or someone closely related to the media about Tesla, unless [the employee has] been specifically authorized in writing to do so.

Here, the Administrative Law Judge found that the confidentiality agreement was lawful because considering that it was sent in response to leaks of confidential information, employees would reasonably interpret the agreement to apply only to proprietary information. Further, the Judge found that any potential interference with Section 7 rights was outweighed by Teslas interest in protecting such confidential information.

In 2017, the NLRB set a new standard for determining whether facially neutral work rules or policies would unlawfully interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in violation of Section 7 of the NLRA. In Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017), the Board held that: [W]hen evaluating a facially neutral policy, rule or handbook provision that, when reasonably interpreted, would potentially interfere with the exercise of NLRA rights, the Board will evaluate two things: (i) the nature and extent of the potential impact on NLRA rights, and (ii) legitimate justifications associated with the rule. In conducting this balancing test, the Board considers the rule or policy from the employees perspective. If the balance favors general employer interests, the rule or policy will be deemed lawful, but if the potential interference with Section 7 rights outweighs any possible employer justification, the rule will be deemed unlawful.

The Board applied the Boeing standard for facially-neutral work rules and reversed the ALJ, and held that the provision in the agreement that prohibited employees from talking to the media without permission was unlawful in violation of Section 8(a)(1). The Board applied prior precedent and found that the language in the media-contact provision applied to information beyond what the confidentiality agreement defined to be confidential information, even if read in conjunction with the introduction explaining that the policy was created in response to leaked information.

The Board held that [t]hat general statement d[id] not change the meaning of the plain language of the media-contact provision, which employees would reasonably interpret to apply to communications with the media about any matter regarding [Tesla], including working conditions, labor disputes, or other terms and conditions of employment.

Additionally, because the provision did not include language limiting the restrictions to statements made to the media on behalf of Tesla, and required prior approval for any statements whatsoever, it clearly infringed on the employees Section 7 rights. Teslas justification for attempting such restriction did not outweigh the right of its employees to communicate with the media about labor disputes and their terms and conditions of employmenta concept central to the Actand, as such, Tesla violated Section 8(a)(1) by maintaining such a provision.

Tesla Did Not Violate the Act for its Conduct when Its Employees Attempted to Unionize

In 2017, a Tesla employee sent a petition to HR and to CEO Elon Musk, discussing the safety concerns of many employees and noting their intent to form a union in order to protect themselves and ensure their safety. Shortly after circulating the petition, HR brought the employee to a conference room with Musk, seeking to directly discuss the employees safety concerns. During the meeting, the employee noted that he thought a union would help give the employees a voice. Musk responded, [Y]ou dont really have a voice. The [Union] is a secondlike two-class system where [the Union] is the only one that has a voice and not the workers.

First, the Board found that the meeting with Musk did not violate Section 8(a)(1), as Tesla did not unlawfully solicit the employees safety concerns and impliedly promise to remedy them. The meeting was a result of the employees petition that had been sent directly to HR and Musk, and was an attempt to understandably learn more about the serious safety concerns alleged in the petition. Further, the petition did not detail any specific hazards and there was no explicit or implicit promise to remedy the safety concerns. As such, the meeting could not be categorized as an unlawful solicitation of grievances.

Second, the Board concluded that Musks statement was lawful because an employer may criticize, disparage, or denigrate a union without running afoul of Section 8(a)(1), as long as the employer does not threaten an employees Section 7 rights. Musk did not imply that Tesla would use unlawful means to ensure the employees were unable to unionize, and simply explained one effect of unionizationthat employees would take up any grievances with Tesla through the Union, who would speak on their behalf.

Elon Musks Tweet Violated the Act

Even though the Board found that Tesla did not violate the act by calling an employee into a meeting to discuss unionization, the Board affirmed the ALJs finding that Musks subsequent tweet on May 20, 2018to approximately 22 million of his followerswas unlawfully coercive: Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare. The Board agreed that Musks commentary lost the protection of the Act because it amounted to a threat that employees would lose their stock options if they unionized; it was not a prediction carefully phrased based on objective fact[s] of what may occur as the result of good-faith collective bargaining. As part of its decision, the Board ordered Tesla to have Musk delete his unlawful tweet and take steps to ensure he complies.

Takeaways

This decision instructively highlights the pitfalls with public communications on social media by the employer and supervisors in response to unionization, reaffirming the principle that while employers have a right to free speech during an organizing campaign, that right must be exercised in a manner that is not overly coercive. The Board held that Musks tweet, to his 22 million followers, was unlawful principally because of the reference to the fact that Tesla employees would give up stock options for nothing. This was construed as a threatwhich is unlawfulrather than a potential consequence of good-faith collective bargaining negotiations if a Union were selected by the employees, which could have been lawful. A fine distinction can be drawn based on the manner in which the statement is phrased and the surrounding context.

In addition, this decision reinforces that employers may lawfully restrict employees from talking to the media about proprietary information, but such provisions must be carefully crafted to ensure that they do not infringe on employees Section 7 rights. Employers should take care in ensuring that they do not categorically restrict employees from talking to the media without prior authorization.

[View source.]

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Tesla and Musk Get a Shock from the NLRB Tesla CEO Ordered to Delete Union Tweet and Eliminate Overly Broad Confidentiality Policy - JD Supra

After renaming Boca Chica as Starbase, Elon Musk now wants to hire you at a Tesla factory in Austin if youre willing to move there on an immediate basis. Days after posting a tweet urging people to move to Boca Chica, Musk is now urging people to move to Austin. The Tesla CEO and SpaceX boss took to his Twitter account to share that a Tesla manufacturing plant being built near Austin will hire more than 10,000 people through 2022 adding that that student dont need a college degree to work with the brand. Students can apply for jobs at the plant right after high school.

According to Financial Times, the upcoming $1.1 billion Tesla Gigafactory at Austin, Texas, which would produce Cybertruck, Semi truck, Model 3 sedan, and Model Y mid-size SUV, is looking to hire more than 10,000 people through 2022. Musk had earlier announced in July that the construction work is proceeding rapidly on the companys newest manufacturing facility. According to a report by Austin American-Statesman, if Tesla will hire 10,000 workers then it will be double the minimum number of hires the company had promised earlier, which was 5,000.

In a new tweet, he urged people to move and also the need to build more housing for his potential employees.

Musk in his earlier tweet further listed the benefits of joining the new Giga Texas. He revealed the job site is situated just five minutes from the airport, 15 minutes from downtown and right on the Colorado River. However, no extra details were provided by Musk via the tweet.Also, on Tuesday Musk had urged people to move to South Texas for his aerospace company SpaceX and encourage friends to do so.

While Austin was an urban area already developed, Boca Chica was far from it. People living in the calm location of Boca Chica, a remote beach community in the southernmost part of Texas, had a life filled with tranquillity. Then Elon Musk came up with his SpaceX company there. Tesla CEO and SpaceX boss, billionaire Elon Musk had fixated on Boca Chica in Texas, US almost a year ago. In March, he announced that he wants to rename it as Starbase. SpaceX is currently building a new factory in Texas for its satellite-based broadband service Starlink, according to a job posting from the company, as a billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk continues to invest in the southern US state.

Boca Chica isnt the ideal place to construct a base for a space exploration company, reports Esquire. The nearest grocery store is a 30-minute drive away, the cell service is poor and there is very little fresh water. But it was quiet, which it isnt anymore.

Most of the Boca Chica were retirees and loved spending their time in peace. But all that changed when Musk decided to start his SpaceX company in the area. Now, loud thuds and sounds of trucks are all common there.

SpaceX was growing at a rapid pace and Boca Chica residents soon got to know that that meant trouble for them. At the end of last year, the private space company offered to buy their homes.

Expansion of spaceflight activities will make it increasingly more challenging to minimize disruption, SpaceX had said in a letter to the residents. The residents have been vocal about what its like to have the experience of being Musks neighbour and it was all negative.

In August last year, SpaceX hinted at a resort also being set up in Boca Chica, in a post mentioning the search for a candidate to fill up the job of a talented Resort Development Manager to oversee the development of SpaceXs first resort.

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Elon Musk's Tesla Will Hire You Without a College Degree If You Move to Austin, Texas Right Away - News18

One of the most common questions traders have about stocks is Why Is It Moving?

Thats why Benzinga created the Why Is It Moving, or WIIM, feature in Benzinga Pro. WIIMs are a one-sentence description as to why that stock is moving.

Here are the latest news and updates for Tesla, Netflix, Alibaba, Ford and Facebook.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered 184,800 vehicles in the first quarter, handily beating the 168,000 expected by analysts. Estimates ranged from 145,000 to 188,000 deliveries, according to CNBC... Read More

Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) shares were trading higher Thursday after Piper Sandler initiated coverage on the stock with an Overweight rating and announced a $605 price target.

Here are the analyst rating updates on Netflix since the beginning of March:

Date

Research Firm

Action

Current

PT

4/01/21

Piper Sandler

Initiates Coverage On

Overweight

605.0

3/23/21

Argus Research

Upgrades

Buy

650.0

3/15/21

Benchmark

Maintains

Sell

472.0

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) shares were trending Thursday. The stock looks to be nearing a support level and to test it soon. Alibaba also looks to be forming what technical traders call a descending triangle pattern... Read More

On CNBC's "The Exchange," Jerry Castellini discussed his playbook moving forward. Castellini, the president and chief investment officer of Castleark, was asked about Ford Motor Company, which is up 38% this year.

"You could buy Tesla today," Castellini said, "but you could also buy Ford at a tenth of its valuation, even up 38%, and participate in the electric vehicle phenomenon.... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Facebook, Inc. (NADSAQ: FB) in a case that accused the social media giant of violating a federal anti-robocall law.

The lawsuit was filed by Montana resident Noah Duguid in California federal court in 2015. Duguid charged Facebook with sending him... Read More

Story continues

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash.

See more from Benzinga

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Is Now The Time To Buy Stock In Tesla, Netflix, Alibaba, Ford Or Facebook? - Yahoo Finance

With its new i4 electric car, BMW BMW, +0.23% is hoping to take a bite out of Teslas TSLA, -0.93% market dominance.

The i4 is a 4-door, 5-seat car that is similar in size to BMWs 3 Series, albeit with a profile more akin to the fastback 4 Series Gran Coupe. Unlike the 4 Series, though, the i4 is electric. BMW says its electric motors churn out up to 530 horsepower, and the automaker estimates a 300-mile electric range when the Environmental Protection Agency rates the car.

BMW says the car will scoot to 60 mph in around four seconds, though an M Performance version presumably boasting more power and sharper handling will follow.

We dont know what the i4 will cost when it arrives in the U.S. for the 2022 model year, but its safe to assume that BMW has the $37,490 Tesla Model 3 in its sights. Still, the i4 Gran Coupes 300-mile range doesnt quite match the 353-mile range of the current Tesla Model 3 Long Range (which starts at $46,490).

Still, the i4 does bring some new tricks to the party. For one, the cars Apple AAPL, +0.70% CarPlay compatibility will be able to calculate a route (using Apple Maps, of course) based on the cars available range, as well as any charging stations along the way. Additionally, those with iPhones can use their devices as a key fob to enter and start the i4. And you thought replacing a lost BMW key would be expensive.

See: Whats it like to drive the 2021 Maserati Ghibli?

BMW isnt quite done with gasoline engines which is good news for enthusiasts pining for a few more years or wringing out the German automakers legendary turbocharged powertrains. The automaker is aiming to convert half of its lineup to electric power by 2025, though it hasnt released a target date for going fully electric.

This story originally ran onAutotrader.com.

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BMW's new i4 is set to take on Tesla with 523 hp and a 300-mile range - MarketWatch

FILE PHOTO: A Tesla logo on a Model S is photographed inside of a Tesla dealership in New York, U.S., April 29, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

(Reuters) -The U.S. auto safety agency said on Monday that it will collect information about an accident in which a Tesla vehicle crashed into a tractor-trailer in New Jersey.

The Tesla driver, a 44-year-old, said he had his cruise control on when he momentarily lost focus on the roadway and drove his car under the trailer on Monday morning, according to a statement from the South Brunswick Township Police Department.

The impact was so severe it shredded the roof off the passengers side of the vehicle.

The Tesla was destroyed in the crash, but the driver received minor injuries.

NHTSA is aware of the Tesla crash on March 29 in New Jersey. We have contacted Tesla and local law enforcement regarding this crash and will act accordingly when we have more information, a representative of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement to Reuters.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comments.

The NHTSA said earlier this month that it had opened 27 investigations into crashes of Tesla vehicles, 23 of which remain active, and at least three of the crashes occurred in recent weeks.

Reporting by David Shepardson in WASHINGTON, Writing by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Himani Sarkar

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U.S. safety agency says it will gather information on Tesla-truck crash in New Jersey - Reuters

Back in February, Edmunds published data that it gathered from testing the driving range of 17 EVs currently for sale and compared its findings to their official U.S. Environmental Protection Agency figures. The Porsche Taycan did incredibly well, surpassing its predicted range by over 100 miles, but as it's to be expected, not every car fared as well. Specifically, every single Teslasix models were testedactually fell short of their EPA estimates.

According to the publication, that aggrieved some engineers at Tesla, of course, who reached out to Edmunds staffto say that its test procedure was all wrong: In a Tesla, the claimed driving range apparently doesn't end at zero miles remaining, but when the car actually drains its "safety buffer" and comes to a complete stop.

In a nutshell, even when using the safety buffer, in controlled conditions, four of the six Tesla cars Edmundstested for range did not hit their EPA mileage. Two didbut in the real world, you're not actually meant to use that safety buffer, both because it's bad for your battery and because it's, well, out of range. You don't have any idea how much further you can drive once the remaining range drops below zero, so while that buffer might be a life-saver in an emergency, it's really not something that folks should count on using or abusing on a daily basis. Plus, as I said, it actually harms the batteryso why would Tesla insist on counting this buffer as part of the EPA-estimated driving range?

There are some factors that affect battery capacity and range, like cold weather or uphill driving, for example. Edmunds claims to have controlled these variables by performing these tests at a temperate, flat track. On the other hand, you can argue that running at a consistent 65 mph, as it didnot the world's most thrilling track dayrobs the cars of potential regeneration under braking and lift-and-coast, plus it doesn't actually reflect real-world driving. So, Tesla, there's your get-out-of-jail card.

The original test where the Teslas fell short wasn't that dramatic; the 2021 Model 3 Long Range and the 2020 Model S Performance only came in eight miles below their EPA estimates. That difference may have felt amplified because pretty much every otherEV was delivering figures in excess of the EPA numbers, but it's not a giant gap that can probably be explained through environmental conditions and driving styles. Both those cars eventually went on to meet their EPA estimates when using the sub-zero mileage format recommended by Tesla, although as noted above - this isn't actually meant to be drivable range.

For the other Teslas tested, however, things didn't go as "well." The 2018 Model 3 Performance was off by 54 milesthis might not look that notable on a couple-year-old modelbut when the testing is performed in such friendly conditions that the 2020 Mini Cooper SE, with an EPA range of 110 miles, is exceeding that by 40 miles, then it just doesn't paint a pretty picture for the Tesla cars.

Edmunds then decided to retest the cars under the conditions Tesla told them to, charging the cars to 100 percent and then running until they came to a complete stop. The staff used a 2021 Mustang Mach-E and a 2020 Volkswagen ID.4 as sort of controls or "lead cars" along with three recent Tesla: the 2020 Model Y Performance, the 2020 Model 3 Standard Range Plus, and the 2021 Model 3 Long Range. Of those, the 2021 Model 3 Long Range went a massive 25.9 miles after it had hit zero remaining mileage, the 2020 Model 3 went 17.6, and the 2020 Model Y 12.9 miles. That's further than either the Mach-E, which traveled 7.3 miles after zero, or the ID.4, which squeezed another 12.6 miles after zero. This wasn't a huge deal for the Ford or the VW, as both had previously exceeded their EPA mileage under the test conditions by 34 and 37 miles respectively.

The 2021 Model 3 Long Range only met its EPA estimate using the extra mileage below zero, but more damningly, the other two didn't. The 2020 Model 3 Standard Range Plus had originally fallen 18 miles short of its EPA estimate, but then stopped at 0.4 miles off its target by driving past the zero mark. The 2020 Model Y Performance had fallen 28 miles short in the first test, and it was still 15.1 miles off target after fully draining the battery.

Will this push away prospective Tesla customers? Probably not. Tesla still offers some of the best driving ranges on any EV, after all. It's also still the leader in overall EV performance. It's just an odd situation, especially because you really shouldn't be cycling your battery to empty unless you have to. EV batteries, like all lithium-ion cells, stay healthiest if you keep them somewhere between 20 and 80 percent charged.

Tesla told Edmunds that the disparity was caused by its software being ultra-conservative about mileage estimates, with the safety buffer overestimated to get people home. But when every other car is, under the same conditions, exceeding their EPA estimate, it's at least a weird quirk that's landed Tesla on the wrong side of the numbers.

Got a story with mileage? Mail me at hazel@thedrive.com

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Tesla's EPA Driving Ranges Didn't Hold Up to Testing. It Tried Again and Still Fell Short - The Drive

TipRanks

Working the stock market is a data game. Getting the best information, in a timely way, and knowing how to use it, are keys to success. So, here are some numbers to think about. According to industry market research, artificial intelligence companies and products are on the verge of explosive growth. The AI market was valued at $9.5 billion in 2018, over $27 billion in 2019, and is projected to exceed $250 billion in 2027. AI refers to the use of data to simulate human intelligence processes including learning, reasoning and self-correction by machines. AI is making its way into almost every industry. Data collection and collation, automation systems from factories to self-driving cars, even online shopping site they all benefit from AI applications. And this has not been ignored by Wall Street. Analysts say that plenty of compelling investments can be found within this space. With this in mind, weve opened up TipRanks database to find two AI stocks that have gotten the seal of approval from 5-star analysts, stock pros rated among the top 3% of their peers. Lets find out why they recommend these two AI plays. Veritone, Inc. (VERI) The first AI stock we're looking at is Veritone, a software company whose flagship product, an AI-powered operating system called aiWARE, allows the user to coordinate machine learning models and integrate disparate data sources including audio and visual into actionable intelligence results. The system boasts an open architecture, and has been applied in the entertainment, government, legal, and media sectors. At the beginning of March, Veritone released its 4Q20 earnings, showing record quarterly revenue at $16.8 million a year-over-year gain of 35%. The increase was driven by yoy sales gains in aiWARE SaaS, which was up 53%, and Advertising, which was up 50%. However, Veritone stock saw a 49% fall from the peak value it hit in February. Investors liked the strong financials, but there is some worry about the companys future guidance. Management is predicting a non-GAAP net loss in the range of $3.9 million to $4.4 million in 1Q21, and while that represents a 38% improvement at the mid-point from 1Q20, investors do want to see a profit. Roth Capital's 5-star analyst Darren Aftahi, however, thinks this new, lower stock price could offer new investors an opportunity to get into VERI on the cheap. Aftahi sees this stock as a well-positioned AI growth story. VERI put up better 4Q results, but more importantly, accelerating topline growth in both AI SaaS and Advertising (both over 50%). If our assumption about its Content and Licensing business returning to 2019 levels (with modest growth) is correct in 2021, it implies its 2021 guide (which was much better by the way) for advertising and AI SaaS is north of 40% growth (~30% for Advertising and ~low 60%s for AI). Most importantly, its AI SaaS line was guided to 60-65% growth, showing a doubling of growth y/y, Aftahi noted. In line with his comments, Aftahi rates the stock a Buy, and his $50 price target implies growth of 104% in the year ahead. (To watch Aftahis track record, click here) All in all, with a share price of $24.53 and a consensus average price target of $38.75, VERI shares offer investors a chance for 58% share growth this year. The analyst consensus rating, a Moderate Buy, is based on 3 Buy reviews and 1 Sell. (See VERI stock analysis on TipRanks) Verint Systems (VRNT) Verint stock has appreciated 107% over the last 12 months, with a large part of that gain coming in a 31% jump at the beginning of February. That jump came in reaction to the companys split into two entities Cognyte, the spin-off, took on the parents intelligence and cyber operations, while Verint continued as a pure-play, AI-powered customer engagement service. The company uses its combination of market experience and AI and analytic products to enable customers to optimize their automation, knowledge, and workforce. Verints fiscal year 2021 ended on January 31, the day before the split, and the company reported its Q4 and full year results at the end of March. Those results beat expectations for the quarter, with $349 million in total revenue a 3% year-over-year gain. For the full year, however, the $1.27 billion in revenue was a shade below the $1.3 billion reported in the previous year. The Q4 data bodes for the Verint in its pure-play customer engagement incarnation, as those AI cloud sectors grew more than 30% year-over-year in that quarter. Calling Verint a "unique AI engagement company," Oppenheimer's 5-star analyst Timothy Horan sees the new Verint in a strong position to move forward. VRNT reported solid 4Q21 earnings and is now a pure play customer engagement AI company following its split. VRNT is successfully executing its transition to a SaaS/ Cloud model. New perpetual license bookings (PLE) was up 15% this quarter. The transition away from licensed sales is difficult but largely behind it as revenue growth should accelerate from this quarter onward. Cloud demand has seen a healthy 50/50 split between existing and new customers. Getting to the bottom line, Horan adds, It exited the year with strong momentum in cloud and bookings. We think it can continue to sign large cloud deals across contact center and other verticals. These are upbeat comments, and Horan backs them with an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating, and a $60 price target indicating room for ~32% growth in the next 12 months. (To watch Horans track record, click here) Overall, there is broad agreement on Wall Street that Verint is a stock to Buy, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating. This is based on 6 recent positive reviews. The shares have an average price target of $59.33, suggesting ~30% upside potential from the current trading price of $45.50. (See VRNT stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for AI stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Analyst Expects Tesla, GM To See EV Tax Credits Restored With Biden Kicking Off US 'Green Tidal Wave' - Yahoo Finance

After more than a year of negotiations between the City of Santa Maria and Tesla, a 5-year deal has been proposed to bring 32 charging stations to the city's Town Center mall.

"We are really thrilled that we can be part of this, said Mark van de Kamp, the City of Santa Marias public information officer.

There are a few electric vehicle charging stations around the city currently, including at Lowe's and the Santa Maria Health Care Center, but to find a Tesla Supercharger open to the public, you would have to drive a little farther, like to the Pismo Beach outlets or the Madonna Inn.

Tesla owner and Santa Maria resident Justin Boileau is happy to hear there could soon be some closer to home.

"That would be very exciting, it would be very convenient. Right now, I have to drive north to Pismo and often the parking lot is very congested and it's hard to actually get a slot in, Boileau said.

The charging station will include 20 "Level-3" chargers, also called superchargers, for Tesla drivers only.

There will also be 12 "Level-2" chargers for any other electric vehicle, free of charge.

"If it is approved and built, it will benefit both Tesla drivers and drivers of other electric vehicles will be able to charge and it will also benefit our downtown because they can park their vehicles and go shop at the local area, van de Kamp said.

That's something nearby candy shop owner Sheila Guge is looking forward to.

"Of course, after COVID we are all trying to recover so more traffic is better for everybody, Guge said.

As part of the deal, Tesla has agreed to pay the City of Santa Maria a $20,000 yearly rental fee with a 3% increase after five years - money the city says can be used to fund other city programs.

The station would take up 38 parking spaces with six being used for the station's transformers.

Tesla has also agreed to pay the fees for construction and maintenance.

"It looks like we have come to a pretty good arrangement and this will be in a location that is adjacent to Highway 101 and Main Street being Highway 166 it will be really convenient for people who are here in town or who are visiting, van de Kamp said.

The Santa Maria City Council is set to meet next Tuesday to vote on this proposal.

An exact date for when construction will begin, if the city decides to move forward, has not yet been determined.

City officials say it will more than likely begin this year.

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Tesla "Supercharger" station may be coming to the Santa Maria Town Center mall - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

If you're concerned that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock's recent wild run higher isn't sustainable, here's a counterargument for you. One analyst said this week that there's plenty of excitement ahead for Tesla. Indeed, shares could rise to $1,200 over the next twelve months, he predicts. That would translate to an incredible 43% gain from the stock's closing price on Monday.

How could Tesla stock be worth that much? It boils down to some enormous long-term expectations for the company'ss growth and profitability.

Let's take a closer look.

Model S and X. Image source: The Motley Fool.

Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter boosted his 12-month price target from $515 to $1,200 on Monday, reiterating a buy rating for the growth stock.

This price target is backed by some lofty expectations, including a forecast for Tesla's annual vehicle deliveries to rise from about 500,000 last year to 894,000 this year and 5 million by 2024. By 2030, annual deliveries could climb to about 9 million.

Sandler is betting on nothing short of an electric vehicle revolution.

But what's perhaps even more startling is Potter's forecasts for Tesla's free cash flow, or the company's cold, hard cash left over after all operating expenses and capital investments are taken care of. He sees Tesla generating nearly $37 billion of free cash flow annually by 2025, up from $2.8 billion today. Highlighting how significant $37 billion of free cash flow is, Facebook's 2020 free cash flow was $23 billion. Microsoft's annual free cash flow is about $50 billion.

Getting to this kind of free cash flow, however, will require success across all of Tesla's businesses, including energy storage, vehicle software sales, solar, and more.

Investors, of course, would be wise to eye Potter's projections skeptically. Sure, Tesla is growing quickly and expanding its manufacturing capacity rapidly. In addition, energy storage sales are soaring. But it may be too early to bet on such rosy five and 10-year forecasts.

Tesla factory. Image source: The Motley Fool.

While it's impossible to know whether Tesla will be able to live up to Potter's wildly optimistic vision for the company, one thing is clear: the electric-car maker's 2021 performance is key to the company's growth story. Thanks to ongoing manufacturing capacity expansion at the company's factories in China, Germany, and Texas, management believes vehicle deliveries can grow more than 50% this year -- an acceleration from the 36% growth Tesla achieved in 2020. If Tesla can do this while simultaneously ending the year with enough production capacity for another year of approximately 50% growth in 2022, then Potter's vehicle sales projections might start to look more realistic.

But investors will need more than manufacturing execution in 2021 to justify a $1,200 price tag. Tesla will need to start demonstrating substantial progress toward enabling its vehicles to drive themselves. If the electric-car maker can pull off autonomous driving, its vehicle software could command an incredible price tag and -- more importantly -- provide Tesla with a high-margin revenue stream.

While Potter's borderline-euphoric boldness about Tesla's future should raise eyebrows, it also serves as a starting point to think bigger. Is it possible that most investors are still underestimating Tesla, even after the stock's astronomical 900% gain since the beginning of 2020? Or is Potter's view too speculative to take seriously?

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Why Tesla Stock Could Be Headed to $1,200 - Motley Fool

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is a car company worth over $800 billion that has never turned a profit selling cars. Despite a cult following and intense brand loyalty, Tesla has been unable to wring any profits out of the half a million cars it now sells annually.

To be clear, Tesla did report a profit for 2020, under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), marking the company's first full year of profitability. But that profit did not come from the core business of manufacturing cars. Tesla booked a whopping $1.58 billion of revenue from selling regulatory credits last year, more than the previous three years combined. Tesla's net income of $721 million in 2020 turns into a substantial loss if those regulatory credit sales are backed out.

Image source: Tesla.

Certain U.S. states award regulatory credits to automakers for selling electric vehicles. Automakers must acquire a minimum number of these credits to comply with regulatory requirements. These credits can be bought and sold, so an automaker that doesn't sell enough electric vehicles can buy credits from other automakers that do.

This regulatory credit system is an attempt by governments to encourage electric vehicle production and reduce emissions. It's ended up essentially subsidizing Tesla's money-losing car operation. Since Tesla only produces electric cars, it's able to sell reams of credits to other automakers that are unwilling or unable to produce enough electric cars.

It should be obvious that this situation is not going to last forever. Automakers are aggressively ramping up their electric vehicle efforts, and there's little reason to believe that Tesla has any real advantage beyond its brand. One example: General Motors is pouring billions into its electric vehicle efforts, with plans for dozens of models over the next few years. GM also recently unveiled a new commercial electric vehicle brand, and it already has delivery giant FedEx as a customer.

This regulatory credit windfall for Tesla will start to vanish as other automakers ramp up their electric vehicle sales. Tesla will then need to figure out how to profitably manufacture cars.

Tesla's valuation of more than $800 billion is quadruple that of Toyota. Toyota sold nearly 10 million cars in 2020, compared to half a million for Tesla.

I would argue that it probably won't matter how well Tesla does over the coming years because the valuation is so extreme that a positive result for investors would require absolutely everything to go right. The company can do well, even very well, and the stock could still fall apart.

Here's an example from the dot-com bubble. Cisco Systems stock hit an all-time high around $80 in early 2000. The networking hardware company was valued at nearly $550 billion at its peak.

Today, Cisco is the dominant provider of enterprise networking hardware. The company's share of the enterprise switch market hovers around 50% despite no shortage of low-cost competition. Cisco's revenue has soared from about $19 billion in 2000 to nearly $50 billion today. Net income has shot up from $2.7 billion to over $11 billion. Cisco the company has been an unquestionable success story.

Cisco the stock, on the other hand, has been an unmitigated disaster. If you bought Cisco stock at its peak, you're down over 40% more than 20 years later. The company is worth around $200 billion today. You were right about the company, but very wrong about the stock.

Tesla the company doing well in the long run does not in any way guarantee that Tesla the stock does well. You can be right about Tesla becoming a top automaker and still lose your shirt investing in the stock. Even if Tesla does wean itself off regulatory credits and starts manufacturing millions of cars annually at a profit, the valuation is so deep into the stratosphere that it may not even matter.

Link:

Tesla's Profits Are Not From Selling Cars - The Motley Fool

STOCKTON, Calif. (KTXL) The University of the Pacific will soon be known for another color besides their traditional orange and black their Stockton campus is going green.

The more we can use these renewable energy sources, the more we can reduce that so-called carbon footprint and contribute, I think, to a better environment, said UOP President Christopher Callahan.

Callahan announced a new solar initiative that will make Pacific number two in the country in renewable energy among college campuses.

This is a fantastic partnership between the University of the Pacific and Tesla, he said.

Solar canopies are being constructed in eight of the universitys parking lots across the 175-acre campus.

Once installed, the solar panels will generate more than 30% of UOPs energy needs.

By producing our own energy in this partnership with Tesla, our electric bills will go down and down and down, Callahan explained. And in the out years, were projecting savings of more than a million dollars a year. So, that is quite significant, especially as we try to keep tuition rates as low as possible.

According to the university, a project this size is the equivalent of removing more than a thousand cars from the road every year and averting more than 5,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases a year.

The project also includes the installation of at least 16 Tesla electric charging stations.

Callahan said the solar project shows how seriously Pacific is taking sustainability.

This notion of focusing on the future of our environment, were serious about it, he said. Were actually doing things to try to achieve that and trying to lead really through action, as opposed to just leading through words.

The university estimates construction of the solar canopies will wrap up by the end of the year and hopes to have the power online within a year.

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Tesla and University of the Pacific team up to generate more solar energy on campus - FOX40

This article comes to us courtesy ofEVANNEX, which makes and sells aftermarket Tesla accessories. The opinions expressed therein are not necessarily our own at InsideEVs, nor have we been paid byEVANNEXto publish these articles. We find the company's perspective as an aftermarket supplier of Tesla accessories interesting and are happy to share its content free of charge. Enjoy!

Posted onEVANNEX February 03, 2021byCharles Morris

2020, for all its faults, was a year full of milestones for the electric vehicle transition, but 2021 promises to hold even more. What will be the biggest Tesla- or EV-related happenings of this pivotal year? Who better to ask than Zac and Jesse Cataldo, a father-and-son team who preside overan empire of YouTube channelsfocused on sustainable energy and transportation?

As we mentioned inanother recent article, Zac and Jesse produce several weekly YouTube shows, including Tesla Time News, and they have an archive of over 1,000 videos, covering all kinds of Tesla, EV and renewable energy topics. They receive a tremendous number of questions and comments from viewers every week, so theyre closely in touch with the grass roots, and especially qualified to make some forecasts about whats going to grab the spotlight this year.

I wasnt surprised when Zac told me thatelectric pickup truckswill be one of the hottest topics of 2021, but a couple of his insights about the details were unexpected. For one thing, he expects charging infrastructure to be one of the factors that determine which brands will take the lead in the crowded pickup field.

TheRivian R1T electric pickup truckis scheduled to hit the streets in June, and Zac and Jesse have one on order. Rivian, if they can pull it off, will have beaten pretty much everyone to the electric pickup truck game, Zac told me. Itll be very interesting to see if they can handle the charging infrastructure. I have no doubt, having watched their truck evolving, that its going to be a really cool truck. But I think the Tesla Supercharging network is one of Teslas amazing assets.

Until youve experienced the Supercharger network, you dont really understand how awesome electric cars can be. And I know this first-hand, because Jesse and I have been on road trips all across the US, and across Europe, and using EVgo or Electrify America, [or IONITY in Europe], not to say you cant do it, but its a completely different experience than driving a Tesla using the Supercharger network. So, when Rivian comes out, we really want to test it out and see if you can drive up into the mountains and do everything fun you want to do in a Rivian, and be able to get there and charge it easily.

Rivian [has been] talking about itsAdventure Network. But are they going to partner with somebody? Where are these chargers going to go? Whats the rollout going to be? Because it could make or break their company. I know that its a very Lake Tahoe kind of vehicle, and I know that theyre probably going to cover Lake Tahoe in chargers, and there will be particular placesZion National Park or Yosemitebut are they going to get everywhere? Tesla had times when they didnt have good coverage in places, but now Im looking at their updated map, and theyre saying in Q2 theres going to be two Superchargers within 20 miles of where I live. And theyre also going into places that have never had any EV infrastructure, like way up in New Hampshire and places where youre usually worried about heading to, because you dont see any red dots on the map.

Im going through this weird dilemmaIve got a Model X, and I was thinking of selling it because were getting the Rivian. But will I be able to do all the things I can do in my Model X? I can just hop in it right now and go anywhere and not even think about it. So, thats what we want to tell our viewersif you get a Rivian, as fun as it might be, will you be able to go wherever you want? Because until you get EVs to do that, which is what Tesla has done, then you are still living in this world of worry and anxiety, and that is not the future of EVs.

The Tesla Cybertruck will surely be one of the most eagerly awaited new products this year, but many people thinkits unorthodox lookswill limit its appeal to mainstream truck buyers. Zac begs to differ.

I think if Elon can pull out all the stops at Giga Texas, and actually get a Cybertruck out by DecemberI dont know if he can do it, but if he can, getting a Cybertruck out in 2021 would be the story of the year, says Zac. I think its going to be a mind-blowing story, because to most of the world, its this kind of science-fiction, crazy-billionaire idea. But Jesse and I were at the unveiling event, we sat in it, we drove in it. Its going to be an amazing truck, and I think that it really appeals to the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado driver.

The Rivian, just by its looks, you can tell that its kind of a Land Rovery sort of experience. Its a little bit more luxury, and you can see that in the price too. I think that when Cybertruck rolls off the line and people start getting them, its not the people who have one on reservation that are going to be Teslas biggest customers, even though theres already a million people signed up for it. I think that its going to be the people who see them on the road for the first time.

Above: Zac and Jesse's reaction to the Cybertruck (YouTube:Now You Know)

Weve all seen concept vehicles before, and they always look Wow, I cant wait to drive that thing. Then you get it for real and it doesnt look that way. But Tesla doesnt operate in that fashion. The Model X has the Falcon Wing doors, and the Model 3 looked almost identical to what was unveiled the first time we saw it. I think the same thing will happen with the Cybertruck. Its stainless steelthey cant stamp it to conform it to some shape, so its going to be this stainless steel box thats going to blow every other truck out of the water. I think that theres a huge portion of this country that has completely missed out on EVs, because a Model 3 is not the type of vehicle that most people drive.

Another big story this year will be the start of Model Y production at the German Gigafactory, which will hopefully be up and running by the summer. I think the Model Y got short shrift because of COVID, Zac told me. I think if COVID hadnt hit, the Model Y would be a much bigger story because people would have actually gotten to experience it. Because of COVID, it makes it really difficultyou cant just go hop in your buddys Model Y, so I think fewer people have gotten to experience it.

I think Model Y is actually going to overshadow Model 3. Americans love SUVs. Its a great size vehicle. It can really handle families. It can handle what you need it for, which is to pack it full of stuff, right? And it looks really goodI didnt think that theyd be able to pull off the looks of it quite so well. We just saw the prices drop because they came out with the Standard Range model, and I think when you get down into this price range, when you drop from a $50,000 car down to a $40,000 car, you really broaden the number of people who can afford it. I think a lot more people who thought, I heard about Teslas but theyre expensive luxury cars are actually going to start to say, waitthis is an affordable car.

Will there be further price drops this year? Will Tesla bring Model Y down into the $30,000 range? With thesingle casting, that really is going to lower the cost for them, and I dont know if theyve actually even realized that price differential yet, says Zac. Its possible that when they start actually seeing the results of that, theyll be able to push that [cost reduction] to customers, but I dont think itll be this year. According to Elon, itll happen in Germany first.

Obviously, the election of Joe Biden, whoseenvironmental planforesees a massive shift to electric vehicles, represents a big package of good news for the clean-tech industries. At the time Zac and I spoke, this was a story that was somewhat under the radar, overshadowed by news stories about the pandemic and the election. Since then, President Biden has completely changed the equation with his announcement that the federal government will electrify its vehicle fleet. However, there are several less glamorous, but equally important, changes in the wind, including a major shift in the utility landscape.

It wont take much to really make the switch fully happen, says Zac. Just a little bit of government incentives for solar and wind, and kind of a peeling back the layers of corporate lies and deception about both climate change, and also utilities. With home rooftop solar, I think theres so much that could be done there, but the utilities have locked this up for years by lying. Theyll say things like solar is dangerous for the grid, blah, blah, blah. But now that we have low-price batteries, now that we have the ability to have grid energy storage, their arguments are just completely out the window. I think this is going to be a huge decade, where we move forward. Because it was an artificial block, it wasnt a true technological block. Its great to see California [mandating] that you have to put the ability to have solar on the roof, that you have to put in a charging infrastructure for new houses. I think youre going to see more and more states [adopting similar measures] and its just wonderful to see it.

When you make the switch to EV and that thing actually switches in your mind, you start to look at each aspect of your life and go, Hang on a second, this doesnt make any sense. I want to put solar on my roof because now I actually have the ability to control where the power that goes into my car comes from. Its no longer, do I go to Exxon or do I go to Shell? It could come from my roof. Well, then I want as much solar as I can possibly get.

Zac and Jesse arent just journaliststheyre also activists, and one of their new missions involves helping people all over the world to organize environment-friendly projects on a local level. The thing thats going to make the biggest difference is for all these people who are having their lives completely changed to run for office. To get those people to say, Knowing what I know now, what needs to change in the system? So Jesse and I set up a non-profit this year called Now We Act. Were going to be unveiling a web site where you can put a pin on a map and you can say, Id like to start a project here. Whether its putting solar on the roof of your high school, or whether its trying to get your utility to switch [to renewable energy], you can get the help you need, so that you dont have to reinvent the wheel so that you can move your project forward.

Theres so many people out there who have great ideas about what they want to do in their communitiesgetting EV charging infrastructure, lets say. But they dont know much about how their government works. We know a lot about how to get this moving, and we know a lot of the people out there who do know, even if we dont know, so were going to be connecting people up that can help you to get that going in your community. And then you can repeat that. You can help the next group to walk through those steps and even speed up the process. Because once you kind of get that ball rolling, we can get this rolling across the entire world pretty fast.

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Written by:Charles Morris

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Rivian R1T, Tesla Cybertruck: The Disruption Of The Pickup Truck Market - InsideEVs