Jim Cramer on Tesla (TSLA) Robotaxis: ‘People Will Realize It’s Much Cheaper Than Uber’

We recently published a list of Jim Cramer October Portfolio: Top 10 Stocks to Buy and Sell. Since Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) ranks 4th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.

Jim Cramer in a latest program commented on the latest stronger-than-expected jobs report, calling it “good news” and expressed surprise at how the stocks “roared” on the report.

“For years, we have been taught that when buying yields go up, stocks go down. Ever since the Fed gave us that double rate cut last month, we have been afraid that they have been acting so decisively. Something might be wrong with the economy—something they knew about, but we didn’t.”

Jim Cramer was also surprised by bank stock gains. He said that these stocks probably rose because a strong employment situation means fewer bad loans. Cramer also said we might be heading to “no landing at all.”

“People have a collective sigh of relief that we weren’t headed for a crash landing. They held onto their stocks with both hands.”

For this article we watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 10 stocks he’s talking about. With each company we have mentioned its number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Jim Cramer on Tesla Robotaxis: ‘People Will Realize It’s Much Cheaper Than Uber’

Pixabay/Public Domain

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 85

Talking about Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and the robotaxi event in a latest program on CNBC, Cramer called the upcoming vehicles “huge.”

“The robo-taxi is significant because it’s gaining traction in many different cities. When that happens, I think people will realize it’s much cheaper than Uber. So, if you’re willing to take the plunge, you can save 30% on Uber if you take Waymo,” Cramer said.

However, many believe Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) won’t be able to live up to the hype around its robo taxi plans. Each robo taxi is expected to have a price target of around $150K to $200K, with some estimates suggesting Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) would need about $35 billion to develop a global fleet of such cars. Amid inflation and lack of preference for electric cars, American families will probably stay away from spending a fortune on robo taxis, which could cause a blow to Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) plans in the future.

ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“The strength in the stock market adds significantly to that enormous transfer of wealth, which one could argue is good for shareholders. But is it causal? That is, did the stock market do well because CEOs got large stock grants? Are the CEOs just the lucky recipients of a windfall when the market goes up and their employees perform well? Or do they require huge grants to do their jobs that no one else could possibly do as effectively?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), and most of its shareholders, certainly think the latter is true. In 2018, Tesla’s board of directors crafted a pay package for CEO Elon Musk that would award him 12 tranches of 10-year, fixed-price options on 1% of company stock for every $50 billion in market cap the stock added. In total, the options would be for 304 million shares of the company at $23.34 a share. He would receive no other compensation, until or unless the board decided otherwise. Shareholders approved that pay package, and the stock added all that market cap and more, giving Musk the right to buy 10% of the company for $50 billion less than it was worth, adding to his existing 13% stake. Minority shareholders sued, and a court sided with them and expunged the package in January 2024. “The process leading to the approval of Musk’s compensation plan was deeply flawed,” ruled Judge Kathaleen McCormik of the Delaware Court of Chancery as part of a 200-page decision. It seemed like a long-awaited check on excessive compensation to one individual for the achievements of an entire company….” (Click here to read the full article)

Overall, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) ranks 4th on Insider Monkey’s list titled Jim Cramer October Portfolio: Top 10 Stocks to Buy and Sell. While we acknowledge the potential of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSLA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.