4. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91
At present, no car manufacturer in North America processes lithium themselves. However, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced on May 9 that it is planning to alter this situation by constructing a refining plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, at a cost of $375 million. By doing so, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) aims to improve its supply chain and fulfill its ambitious EV sales objectives, while also branching out from its primary business of car production into raw materials. In Q1 2023, Steve Cohen disposed of his entire Tesla stake, consisting of 877,800 shares worth over $108 million.
On May 12, Wedbush maintained an Outperform rating on Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) with a price target of $215 following Elon Musk’s announcement that a new Twitter CEO would replace him. The analyst informed investors that the news should eliminate some of the distraction risk around the Tesla narrative and have a beneficial impact on the stock. Wedbush is convinced that Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price will start to “finally remove this lingering albatross from the story.”
According to Insider Monkey’s fourth quarter database, 91 hedge funds were long Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), compared to 88 funds in the earlier quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group is a significant position holder in the company, with 7.5 million shares worth $926.2 million.
Baron Opportunity Fund made the following comment about Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) designs, manufactures, and sells EVs, related software and components, and solar and energy storage products. Following a sharp decline at the end of 2022, Tesla’s stock rebounded in the first quarter of 2023 on investor expectations that Tesla will continue to grow vehicle deliveries and maintain solid gross and operating margins despite a potential recession, competition in China, and vehicle price reductions. We wrote a long piece on Tesla last quarter and refer readers back to it, because for long-term investors not much has changed over the last three months. Tesla did hold its first Investor Day in March, and several Baron analysts and portfolio managers attended. We toured the Austin Gigafactory, drove in a Cybertruck, boarded a Semi truck, and spoke with a wide swath of Tesla senior managers. During the formal presentation, Tesla highlighted, among other things: (1) its broad and deep bench of executive talent supporting CEO Elon Musk; (2) its “Master Plan 3–Sustainable Energy for All of Earth,” which featured EVs, renewable power from solar and wind, and stationary electric storage; (3) its vehicle assembly innovations, including massive casted parts (building Model Y bodies with single front and rear castings, replacing a substantial number of parts and fastening steps), a stainless steel exoskeleton (for Cybertruck), and its next-generation highly efficient “unboxed process” for its next-gen $25,000 vehicle; (4) a future permanent[1]magnet electric motor that will not require any rare earths; and (5) the massive untapped market opportunity for commercial stationary electric storage, branded Megapack, as the world steadily shifts to renewable energy. As long-term shareholders, we have witnessed Tesla exploit its innovative Model 3/Y now-global mass-market platform to increase vehicle deliveries from barely a standing start to over 1.3 million units, while achieving industry-leading margins and reinforcing its iron-clad balance sheet to almost $23 billion in cash (and effectively no recourse debt). We expect Tesla’s next-generation EV and Megapack products to have a similar impact on company results.”
