Liam Denning, Columnist

Tesla’s Drama Isn’t Over Yet

A calmer call and better-than-expected results don’t solve its cash problem.

August 1, 2018 at 11:26 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

Who knows what’s next.
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

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Tesla Inc.’s past few months have produced even more drama than usual: CEO Elon Musk’s refusal to answer “dry” analyst questions; his Trumpian media tirade and #Pravduh thingy; Kanye; an alleged saboteur (or wannabe whistleblower); and, of course, that submarine tour/pedo episode.

The company’s quarterly results, released Wednesday evening, almost feel like a commercial break. Earnings came in short of expectations. This is not a number that, in isolation, means very much – witness the jump in the stock in after-hours trading.