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How is investment in growth (e.g. gigafactory construction) recognized financially?

• arcticbull 6y ago
  I'm more curious how investment of carbon credits (the only source of profit) which are soon to no longer be required by their competitors, in speculative bubbles (e.g. Bitcoin) which are primarily fueled by Chinese coal plants is accounted for. I'd love to have coffee with their Master of Coin.
  • mavhc 6y ago
    There's been no increase in coal usage in China in 10 years though
    • arcticbull 6y ago
      Sounds like there could have been a coal decrease. That's not a great argument IMO as they have been investing heavily in alternative energy production, especially hydro and solar. Coal usage needs to go down to zero, and anything that impedes that process is maddening to see.
• marvin 6y ago
  It's recognized by investors who try to make an honest assessment in order to make good investment decisions. Thankfully, this is not a popularity contest. By any reasonable non-pedantic measure, Tesla has actually been quite profitable over the last couple of years. They've put their entire profit towards building additional production capacity. Of course, they've also used the current investment climate to make capital raises that are bigger than their profits. IIRC, Tesla have reported profit and cashflow minus capital spending for the last few years, and these numbers show what you expect: A business that's very profitable from a per-unit perspective. The market cap is a different question, but let's treat that as a separate question.