Is A Flip Coming After Tesla’s Floparoo?

I’ve placed my “Don’t Play With Fire”sign on Tesla after its 200 point rollover. Nobody should care that Tesla jitterbugs a dozen or more points daily. Down from $500, consider there are days when it trades nearly 300 million shares, as a triple digit piece of paper. Fifty million shares hourly at times. 

Recently, I reached for my slide rule, a pocket job I’ve kept in my desk. You can’t do Tesla by hand. Too many digits trace several half necklaces. The market intervenes and  reaction sets in. Should anyone care that Tesla sold at par or 500? Maybe those who run rabbits and bark at the moon. “I’ve omitted the third requirement which is salacious.)

Tesla Price Chart

Call Tesla’s 5-year price chart a roller coaster ride. Good ole days took place back in 2020, ‘21 when it zipped from pocket change to over par. Then it moved from $200 mid 2024 to a recovery around $500. 

During the Trump-Musk blow-up, I took out my “Don’t Play With Fire” sign. I didn’t see Tesla as a $550 stock before the fight because I couldn’t build an earnings model. Same goes now that it ticks furiously in the three hundreds. I hide the warning call.  “Cyclical business”, automobiles. The industry should sell at 10 times earnings til the end of time. 

Remember, when George Romney introduced the compact car there were few believers in American Motors. After all, the public loved its glitzy Caddy models even though they sold at $8,000.  Gas guzzlers (8 or 9 miles per gallon). 

I’m a sucker to play ragafuffins (under $10 stocks). American Motors had to prove itself to get its Wall Street following. All Tesla has proved so far is that it can make a good electronic automobile, that’s saleable. 

Somebody, please tell me what to do with my Cleveland Cliffs Steel stock now ticking at 7 bucks and change. If Trump’s steel tariffs hold up, I’m a goner. I don’t see any sharply penciled research reports.  Just buy, hold or sell comments. 

Who are the operators in Tesla, besides traders, involved here?  I dunno. Maybe, it's guys heading trillion dollar funds in 100% turnover, models I don’t see them making money with their high static ratios. Even Buffett, with an inherently low turnover style is treading water in Apple and Occidental Petroleum. Alas! I own Apple, too, along with Amazon and Goldman Sachs. At least Amazon and Goldman Sachs are analyzable. 

The sole research report I’ve uncovered for Tesla is an outright sale recommendation. The analyst has cut Tesla auto volume in half near term. Too hard for projecting in a difficult period for unit sales. If Tesla’s earnings slid seriously, why would traders hang in?

I’ve an argument with the New York Stock Exchange which approves open ended price points without a ceiling. Maximum price on a stock should be $100. 

Why allow management such a badge of honor? Sorry, Warren, no $700 paper allowed. 

I remember Tesla sold in the fifties and then shot over $500. Its daily volume reached over 500,000 shares. Decades ago when Big Board volume barely made 4 million shares, I was an odd lot player then,  $10,000 was my stake. I thanked God for low margin requirements and moderate interest rates.