Tesla is 'the AI company': Analyst

Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 8:38 AM

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (TSLA) has come under fire for his comments on X (formerly Twitter). But Canaccord Genuity Managing Director George Gianarikas isn't concerned about what sort of impact it could have on the EV maker. Gianarikas argues that Musk's antics are not new and that "he's who you have to take in to invest in Tesla's stock."

Tesla has missed some targets recently, but Gianarikas argues that when Musk is giving his goals, he's not just trying to please investors and Wall Street, but that "he's trying to inspire the three, four, five companies that he's the CEO of and he navigates." Gianarikas points to Tesla's full-self driving (FSD) technology. He thinks Tesla will succeed in meet its FSD goals. For example, Gianarikas says Tesla's FSD is relying "completely on AI to navigate their vehicle" and as a results he thinks Tesla is "the AI company because ultimately real world AI is about self driving. You are literally taking AI to navigate a vehicle from one place to the other. There's no more productive use of AI out there."

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Click here to watch the full interview on the Yahoo Finance YouTube page or you can watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: George, when you talk to investors, is there a subset that say, George, we appreciate your bullish take. We get it. We like what Tesla is working on. But we are not real fans of Elon Musk and how he is just come out here on various social issues. And we are concerned about how this company might fare over the next few years because of what Musk does with X, SpaceX, whatever is the case. What do you tell them right now?

GEORGE GIANARIKAS: He is without a doubt a controversial figure, and says some things people don't like, and says other things that people do like. But that hasn't changed in over 10 years. I recall when people thought the company was going to go bankrupt in the late 2010s, he gave interviews, where he cried to a reporter. He smoked marijuana on the "Joe Rogan Podcast." So this ain't new news. He's who you have to take in to invest in Tesla stock. And, thankfully, he's done an incredible job. He's being compared to Steve Jobs. And he's probably the tech titan of the last century.

So look, people know who you're dealing with when you invest in Tesla. It's not new news. He's all over the place. We're fans. But that's for us. Ultimately, what matters with stocks, ultimately, what matters is earnings growth. And we think there's a lot of earnings growth ahead for the company.

BRAD SMITH: Even within a visionary leadership team, you still need realism, as well, at the end of the day, right, George? And so in terms of the targets that Tesla has really had to answer questions for and quite frankly, some of the growth model side and even delivery of targets that they've set forward for the amount of vehicles that they might produce one day, they've missed on some of those targets. So for the bull perspective here, where do you still have to grapple with the missing of targets that Tesla continues to showcase?

GEORGE GIANARIKAS: They've missed some near-term targets throughout the history of the company without a doubt. We've actually beat some too. But when Elon Musk talks, when he's giving his goals to the world, it's not just for me and you and for our investors. He's trying to inspire the three, four, five companies that he's the CEO and then he navigate. So he has to set those aspirational goals. And even if they haven't hit them all the time, look where the company's come from basically nothing 10 to 15 years ago.

So he has to be an inspiring figure and set targets that, ultimately, the company will hit he set himself. Sometimes, he's late. But he always gets there. And even with full self-driving, there's an incredible amount of skepticism that this company will accomplish what it wants to. We think he will. We think the company will.

They've taken a completely different approach relative to other companies in the marketplace. They use cameras only. And they're using neural networks only, which means that they're relying completely on AI to navigate their vehicles.

Other companies like Mobileye or [? Aurora, ?] that we cover, take a completely different approach. And one of your previous guests mentioned that Tesla is not an AI company. We think they are the AI company. Because, ultimately, real-world AI is about self-driving. You're literally taking AI to navigate a vehicle from one place to the other. There's no more productive use of AI out there.

Forget chat bots and all this gimmicky stuff. This is real-world AI. This is what we're AI literally hits the roads and makes our roads more productive and more safe for everyone.

BRIAN SOZZI: George Gianarikas, Canaccord Genuity Managing Director. Always good to see you, George. Thanks for giving us time throughout the year. Happy New Year to you.

GEORGE GIANARIKAS: Likewise. Happy holidays and Happy New Year.

BRIAN SOZZI: Appreciate it.

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Tesla is 'the AI company': Analyst

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