Elon Musk Explains Why Tesla (TSLA) Should Be Considered A Tech Stock

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock's recent highs seem to have confused some analysts. Some believe that investors are treating TSLA too much like a tech stock. Others would probably disagree and bring up Tesla's other innovative products and projects. Recently, Elon Musk explained his view of Tesla as a company that may help analysts understand TSLA bulls more. 

“Tesla should really be thought of as roughly a dozen technology startups, many of which have little to no correlation with traditional automotive companies,” Elon Musk commented in a tweet by CleanTechnica. 

Musk’s comment has been clear to long-time Tesla investors and supporters. However, there are still a lot of people who can’t wrap their minds around Tesla’s ventures outside the automotive industry. Morgan Stanely’s Adam Jonas appears to be one of those people. 

He believes too many investors see TSLA as a tech stock. And Jonas thinks Tesla’s automotive department still has a ways to go before it can operate like a tech company.

Tesla should really be thought of as roughly a dozen technology startups, many of which have little to no correlation with traditional automotive companies

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2020

“[Tesla] still faces a multitude of risks associated with running a car company that the market seems to be ignoring,” he said. When comparing Tesla with big tech companies like Apple or Microsoft, Jonas stated: “One would have to consider (or ignore) significant inherent differences in Tesla’s business model and capital intensity. One must also take into account many of Tesla’s business objectives face a degree of execution risk that may be significantly higher than many of the more proven/mature companies in this analysis.”

However, Tesla isn’t a traditional automaker. It has never been, which is why it's difficult for TSLA bulls to see the company as just another car manufacturer. Elon Musk provided the perfect example to showcase this. 

“For example, [Tesla] created a chip design team from scratch for the Tesla full self-driving computer, which is not something car companies do[.],” he said in a follow-up comment.

Tesla (TSLA) Gets 4-Star Rating On Jim Cramer's Constellation Index For Popular Retail Stocks https://t.co/iEkBWzJz56 pic.twitter.com/QnzIc7JNQs

— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) June 25, 2020

Tesla’s efforts and ultimate achievement with Hardware 3.0 reveals an aspect of the company that traditional automakers are having a hard time replicating on their own. For instance, Volkswagen recently teamed up with Nvidia to build its AI software, whereas Tesla has its own AI Autopilot team. 

Tesla's chip and AI Autopilot team are just one segment of the company that doesn't fit the traditional components of an automaker. It also has an Energy department that has nothing to do with the auto industry at all. Tesla Energy has more to do with the utility industry than it does with manufacturing cars, making it the one aspect of the company that auto analysts have a hard time considering in their prices targets, ratings, and estimates.