Tesla Live Blog: Q4 Earnings Conference Call Recap

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA reported earnings this Wednesday afternoon. Below is a live blog of the events.

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08:44:10pm: Conference call concludes.
08:43:46pm: Musk on oil's relation to Tesla: "It certainly has some effect, but it's not a dramatic effect. I'd call it a moderate effect. It's not changing any of my projections."
08:43:11pm: "Demand is certainly going to increase...for sure, oil companies are going to be scaling back their investments in new oil fields massively."
08:42:00pm: Musk on oil: "I'm not an expert...obviously fracking has massively increased the available oil reserves worldwide...there's a cost of doing it [though]. But man, it's really anyone's guess as to what happens long term."
08:40:15pm: Question: Why did you promise the Roadster 3.0? Musk: It's an "obligation" to early adopters. "We said we'd provide an upgrade and that's what we're doing."
08:38:01pm: Musk calls the Model 3 a "mass market premium car"
08:36:13pm: Trip Chowdhry: Instead of focusing on the Model 3, why aren't you just focusing on X and S? Musk response: "We need to make a lot of cars..and make them a heck of a lot more affordable than they are today."

08:32:11pm: Musk: "We need to be building a firm foundation for future growth...we have to improve our core productivity"
08:31:26pm: Musk: We'll try to do better than the 55K sales estimate; depends on how the X ramp goes.
08:27:53pm: Musk: I have a "secret weapon" on the demand side. "We'll see how that goes. It isn't totally necessary...it could be pretty interesting"
08:24:05pm: Musk: Even if sales in China were zero, "I'm still confident" in overall car sales forecast
08:19:33pm: Musk: "The problem last year is that we had a whole bunch of speculators," who bought cars and resold them in China. "It gave an inflated sense of demand...it wasn't real."
08:15:11pm: Tesla shares now gaining after hours. Still down -3.90 percent.
08:12:39pm: Musk: Consumer battery for use in houses will happen "very soon," possibly 6 months. Unveiling in the next month or two. "[It's] really great."
08:10:23pm: Model 3 should be in production by H2 2017
08:08:11pm: Musk on the Model 3: "It won't be the most adventurous version to begin with...we got quite adventurous with the X...we're not going to go super crazy with the [Model 3 initially]"
08:04:33pm: Musk on the path to profitability: "People read too much into my comment [on full year GAAP profitability]...probably 2020, it's full year and it's GAAP...what that actually means is Tesla's Free Cash Flow is incredible in 2020."

07:58:00pm: Musk says Tesla will be cash flow positive by the end of the year, after capex, "in Q4."
07:57:15pm: Musk: The only way we'd raise money is "to have a bigger cash cushion...in case there's a downturn in the economy"
07:55:11pm: Musk: "I'm quite sure there will be...manufacturers are currently trying to use our patents. The first time you'd see anyone using our IP will be about 3 years after" release.
07:49:30pm: Musk on Tesla's non-GAAP profitability: "That doesn't mean bull**** profitable, it means really profitable"
07:47:10pm: Musk: We are going to spend staggering amounts of money on capex
07:45:35pm: Musk: "Financials are better than they appear, not worse."
07:39:35pm: Musk: Sales in Hong Kong are excellent. "I'm confident, just as we're seeing high demand in every other part of the world, we'll see it in China as well."
07:37:10pm: Musk: "It is not difficult to charge your car in China...unfortunately, our sales team was telling people it was difficult to charge your car in China...that's pretty silly"
07:36:13pm: Musk: Situation in China has been Blown Out of Proportion
07:35:31pm: Tesla Says Want to Overcome Difficult Customer Experience in China
07:31:28pm: Tesla's Earnings Call Begins

$TSLA conference call music becoming more aggressive approaching call
— Benzinga.com (@Benzinga) February 12, 2015

06:09:22pm: Of note, Tesla sentiment on StockTwits is 68 percent Bullish/32 percent Bearish. Wide swings in sentiment since beginning of the year.

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05:49:41pm: Tesla now down 2.81 percent after hours.

Well done @AndySwan beating 125 other analysts and the Wall Street Consensus to take the win for $TSLA - http://t.co/H0fYgsU43L
— Estimize (@Estimize) February 11, 2015

05:30:50pm: Tesla conference call scheduled to begin in two hours.

$TSLA misses huge. The CEO is tweeting about a droneship and the stock is up. This is a reverse $GPRO.
— Nicole Sherrod (@TDANSherrod) February 11, 2015

05:28:10pm: Tesla down 1.53 percent after hours.
05:26:00pm: Elon Musk not tweeting about Tesla miss, discussing SpaceX on platform.
05:17:10pm: Tesla Reports Q4 Adj. Loss of $0.13/Share vs Gain of $0.31/Share Est., according to Bloomberg
05:16:47pm: Tesla Reports Q4 Sales $1.1B vs $1.23B Est., according to Bloomberg
05:07:30pm: Still nothing from Tesla
04:53:29pm: Tesla Release Shows Correction to Prior Q4 Results Release, Says Results Will Be Available at 5 p.m. EST

Tuning into $TSLA call...currently a mixture of country/atmospheric music http://t.co/rZyQkPZpS3
— Benzinga.com (@Benzinga) February 11, 2015

4:17:00pm: Press Release Suggests Q4, FY14 Results Are Out; However, Links Do Not Seem to Be Working Properly
3:40:00 pm: Tesla expected to move 8.5 percent post-earnings, implied volatility shows.
3:30:00 pm: Trading expert says Tesla chart says "buy me.
3:05:00 pm: New Products Key To Tesla Motors' Production Goals, Says Kelley Blue Book.
1:51:00 pm: Tech Editor: Watch China-Related News On Tesla Earnings Call.