Tesla: Billionaire David Einhorn blames the stock for him losing

David
Einhorn, President, Greenlight Capital, Inc., speaks at the Sohn
Investment Conference in New York City.
Reuters/Brendan McDermid

• David Einhorn’s
   $5.5 billion
  Greenlight Capital hedge fund lost 18.3% in the first half of
  2018 while the benchmark S&P 500 was
  positive. 
• Tesla was the firm’s “second biggest loser” he said,
  thanks to its 29% jump in the same period. 
• Einhorn is swapping his Tesla
  Model S for a Jaguar I-PACE SUV, he told investors
  Tuesday.
• Elon Musk responded on Twitter, saying he will “send
  Einhorn a box of short shorts to comfort him.”
• 
  
  Follow Tesla’s stock price in real-time
  here. 
  

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Billionaire hedge fund manager David Einhorn hasn’t had a fun
year.

His $5.5 billion Greenlight Capital lost 18.3% in the first half
of 2018, he told investors in a letter Tuesday.

The losses were exacerbated by Tesla’s
29% gains last quarter — decimating Einhorn’s short position in
the stock — making it his “second biggest loser” for the
six-month period.

Elon Musk — Tesla’s chief executive with a noted disdain for
short sellers— tweeted
in response to the letter that he will “send Einhorn a box of
short shorts to comfort him through this difficult time.”

“By all available evidence, the company has had a difficult
year,” Einhorn wrote about the automaker in his letter,
which was published by the finance blog Zero
Hedge. “TSLA has had trouble demonstrating efficient
production, and it has delayed capital spending which pushes out
future growth opportunities in the Model Y and the Semi.

“TSLA is accommodating Model 3 customers who are willing to pay
for premium features – making the car more of a luxury item with
a smaller addressable market than the mass market car TSLA had
promised. This high-grading of the backlog combined with the
reduction in the government subsidy by early next year, new
product delays and the emergence of viable competition for the
Models S and X means that 2019 should be a very challenging year
for TSLA. We doubt the entry-level Model 3 will
be produced profitably anytime soon,
if ever.”

Einhorn also said that he was pleased his Tesla lease had ended
and that he was excited to get the I-Pace, which is Jaguar’s
first electric SUV and powers Waymo’s fleet of self-driving
taxis.

Tesla is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings on
Wednesday after the closing bell. Analysts polled by Bloomberg
expect the company to report an adjusted loss of $2.90 per share
on revenues of $2.974 billion. Musk has
repeatedly claimed the company will be profitable by the end of
the year. 

Tesla is down 6% this year amid increasing worries about a
potential default, with insurance on its bonds,
hitting their most expensive prices ever last week.

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