Here's Why Elon Musk Just Downplayed Tesla's Prospects (Yes, You Read That Correctly)

The bull and bear debate over Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is often framed in narrative terms. The salmon-grabbing bears usually classify Tesla as just a car company and wave a hand in the general direction of its astronomic earnings-based valuation. In contrast, the red-rag raging bulls tend to favor pricing in Tesla's growth initiatives as if they were just around the corner. But which is the more accurate approach to take, and why might CEO Elon Musk have inadvertently downplayed the company's prospects on the earnings call? Here's the lowdown.Tesla has generated $14.8 billion in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and has suffered declining electric vehicle (EV) market share and automotive revenue in 2025. Yet it trades on a market cap of more than $1.46 trillion. As such, it's not surprising that advocates of Tesla as a car company are negative about the stock.On the other side of matters, Tesla stock advocates such as Cathie Wood's Ark Invest have argued that 88% of Tesla's enterprise value (market cap plus net debt) will be attributable to robotaxi in 2029, with just 9% from EVs, 2% from energy storage, and 1% insurance. Meanwhile, Elon Musk believes 80% of the company's value could come from Tesla's robot initiative, Optimus. Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool