Elon Musk Acted Like ‘Little Baby’ on Tesla’s ‘Terrible’ Earnings Call: Analyst

• Financial analyst Kevin Paffrath criticized Elon Musk’s comments on Tesla’s recent earnings call.
• He said Musk blamed the EV maker’s struggles on economic factors instead of “coming up with a plan.”
• Tesla’s third-quarter results fell short of analysts’ expectations.

It’s now clear that Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday didn’t exactly go as expected.  

CEO Elon Musk acted like “a little baby,” financial analyst and YouTuber Kevin Paffrath recently told Yahoo Finance. He also described the call as “terrible” and said Musk was “almost in tears” at one point.

“For a leader to cry about the economy rather than funneling that and coming up with a plan is pathetic,” said Paffrath, who has almost 1.9 million subscribers on his Meet Kevin YouTube channel, and owns Tesla stock. 

Paffrath pointed to Musk’s comments on Tesla’s gigafactory in Mexico as an example. The $10 billion endeavor, which Musk confirmed during a meeting with investors in March, would be the company’s sixth and most expensive factory to date.

Musk suggested at one point on the call that he was delaying the factory in light of rising interest rates, which make borrowing more expensive. “If interest rates remain high or if they go even higher, it’s that much harder for people to buy the car. They simply can’t afford it,” Musk said, pointing to the impact on monthly car loan payments.  

But Paffrath slammed Musk’s response, saying the Tesla CEO was “afraid,” and suggested that Musk should negotiate a better deal with the Mexican government or potentially “advertise to higher-income areas.” Paffrath has previously called on Tesla to promote its products to non-fans.

“We need to know the light is at the end of the tunnel rather than hearing a complaining CEO who’s not actually providing that path,” he told Yahoo Finance.

Tesla reported weaker than expected third quarter results, with both earnings per share and revenue of $23.35 billion falling short of analysts’ estimates. 

Shares in the EV maker fell 15% in the past week, valuing the company at $664 billion, but the stock is still up 96% this year.

Paffrath is far from the only analyst who’s criticized Musk’s performance on the call. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives characterized it as a “mini disaster” in which a “cautious Musk” focused on high interest rates and tempered expectations around the Cybertruck.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.