Bidness Etc - Tesla Motors Doubles Workforce

Tesla Motors is seen to be expanding its business as it is employing new people for new projects quite rapidly. According to a report by Wall Street, the company has set goals to hit new highs in the upcoming quarters for which it is currently working to hire more and expand more. A company that was founded only a decade ago has been flying high with the production and sales of electric cars and plans to continue with the success.
Growth of the company has increased briskly in the past couple of years. The company’s development is evident from its past sales as in 2012, the automakers only managed to sell a few thousand Model S sedans, while in 2014 the electric car makers were successful in selling around 30,000 electric vehicles.
Analysts are of the opinion that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is not ready yet to back down and this is something that should interest the investors and the company’s fans alike.
According to analysts at Wall Street, the electric car making company has on track in expanding in business and its workforce by double the number of employees that it had last year.
Currently, Tesla aims at stepping into the already established markets and take huge steps to enter places that it has not yet reached. For that purpose, the American company has raised its workforce from a total of 5,859 employees in 2013 to 10,161 workers in 2014, marking an eminent rise in the employees of the company.
In a press conference held at the start of 2015, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk declared that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is trying to steal the auto company’s employees for the purpose a classified car project, by hiring them on a higher pay scale. These employees, according to Musk, were the most talented employees of the company and he complained that Apple was stealing them from his company by offering them huge bonuses and around a 60% raise in salaries.
However, a report by Bloomberg states that Tesla has been successful in hiring around 160 Apple employees which are more in number than the workers Apple has taken away from the automakers.
Elon Musk also mentioned in a recent conference that it is a probability that the company’s sales stay under expectations for the next five years, up until the time when around a million electric vehicles will be getting produced by the company, a statement that shows that Tesla is working hard to increase its volume of production.

Bidness Etc - Bank of America Slashes PT of Tesla Motors

After slashing off Tesla Motors’ price target, Bank of America has initiated many doubts and queries regarding the stocks of the electric car manufacturer. BofA adjusted the price target this week for the company to $65 at a discount of 68% upon its current trading stock price.
This raised several question on the future prospects of Tesla Motors Inc's (NASDAQ: TSLA). The report comes as a surprise to investors of Tesla Motors. It shocked many shareholders of the carmaker. The Wall Street, however, is mostly bullish on the company’s stock.
BoA’s analyst, John Lovallo, announced: “We believe Tesla has seemingly managed to offset a steady stream of negative news and weak financial results by issuing long-term targets that, in our view, are often quite difficult to fathom. We believe that barring a significant reset in investor expectations, this strategy is certain to lose its luster, particularly considering what we see as the long road of challenging financial results and cash burn that lie ahead.”
Mr. Lovallo has based his opinions on the financial metrics of the automobile company. He contends that Tesla’s stock is fairly priced as per its valuation, before the company launched its celebrated Model S in fiscal year 2013.
Tesla stock price increased exponentially however as the giant company’s CEO Elon Musk has promised over the years regarding its progress and innovation. Mr. Lovallo, however, who is also known as “the biggest Tesla bear on the Street,” claimed that the expectations are unreal, and suggests to discount these assurances from the valuation in order to get a clearer picture.
Tesla Motors’ progress however did reduce from a once being a thriving stock to just an automobile manufacturing company over the last year. The company’s earnings also fell short as of market expectations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The company also delivered 4% fewer cars in 4Q than FY14 guidance.
Further criticizing the company, BoA analyst claimed that Mr. Musk’s company has always been successful in “crafting and re-crafting” its story. While adding further, he stated: “Lovallo calls out Tesla for its 'latest effort to shift investor focus away from disappointing financial results' — stationary storage, using the company's battery technology. But I don't think Tesla is talking up stationary storage because it wants to tell investors to zig when they should be zagging.”
Despite the Street being fairly bullish on the Tesla’s stock, 13 analysts out of the 22 who cover Tesla suggested a Buy, whereas six recommended a Hold. The stock is currently being traded at a share price of $203.76, down by 0.17% as of 7:42 PM on Thursday. The average target price or 12-month assigned to the stock of the electric car company by the analysts is $261.68.