Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Future of Tesla and The New pot Industry


               So far this year’s stock market is proving to be more treacherous to navigate then last year’s unprecedented bull market. The course of the market is no longer straight up, yet after January’s sell off stocks have bounced back and are just shy of all-time highs.

                The Dow was up over 109 points this week, and fears over emerging markets seem to have subsided (yet this could change due to the situation in Ukraine) a possible debt ceiling crisis has also been averted. Yet there are a number of companies and industries that have caught my eye in the last few weeks. One of which is Tesla Motors.

Tesla Motors-

                I am certainly not the first person writing about Tesla, and I am certain I’m not going to be the last. The maker of all electric cars has seen its stock increase 480% in the last year and on Friday closed at 209.60 a share, just shy of its all-time high of 215.21.

                Now this amazing surge in the stock is not completely undeserved, Tesla has made great strides in the last year and most importantly the company has become profitable. During the 4th Quarter of 2013 Tesla posted a profit of $45.9 million or $.33 way over the streets expectation of $.23, in addition the company beat estimates on its revenue as well, grossing over $761 million blowing past estimates of $684 million.

                Tesla also said it sold almost 6,900 vehicles in the 4th quarter and 22,477 during the entire year. Relatively speaking that’s nothing considering Ford sold nearly 2.4 million vehicles in the same period of time. But even so, Tesla has grown its sales, and brand considerably in 2013, now the question becomes, what’s next?

                Tesla’s stock is certainly not cheap, considering the company is valued at close to 600 times earnings, comparing to the marker average of 15 that is outrageous. Granted Tesla’s unique position as the world’s sole auto maker to offer a purely electric luxury car does warrant some type of premium but from a fundamental standpoint Tesla stock is simply too expensive.

                But if you want to know if Tesla stock is going to go up in the short term, the answer is probably yes. Since Wall Street seems to be in a good mood at the moment and with Tesla providing nothing but good news (such as the company announcing its buying of a lithium battery factory, to lower the cost of Tesla’s battery pack for its cars.) it seems that the stock will continue going up.

                In the long term though, investors in Tesla might be looking at increased volatility in the stock, considering how expensive it is. If you are a long term value investor then you might want to avoid investing in Tesla, as the stock becomes more volatile in the coming months. If you are a short term speculator on the other hand, Tesla might just be an interesting investment, since it is without a doubt the future.

 

Pot Stocks-

                Another industry that has caught my eye recently is the somewhat new and very controversial industry of legalized marijuana. In one of my previous articles I wrote about the pros and cons of investing in legalized marijuana. Truthfully though, the companies that are currently involved in the business are too small, to undercapitalized and too unpredictable to invest in.

                In the last week though this fledgling industry received two pieces of good news that might lead to a large and very profitable future. The first of which was by a new law that allowed banks to lend to marijuana companies.

                Before the marijuana industry (which exists in its recreational form in the states of Washington and Colorado) was a strictly cash based because due to marijuana being illegal on a federal level banks did not want to lend to marijuana companies due to fear of federal persecution. Now though the government is allowing banks to lend to marijuana distributors in states where it’s legal. This is a great boost to the industry since it provides legitimacy and opens up the opportunity and capital for marijuana companies to expand.

                The second piece of good news the pot industry has received this week was the announcement by Colorado of how much tax revenue was raised by taxing recreational marijuana. Colorado raised $184 million in additional tax revenues in one month. This is a huge sum of money that benefits the state greatly, and might just lead to other states legalizing recreational pot. Already states such as New Jersey and California have explored legalizing marijuana due to the enormous tax revenues it could generate, this expansion would open up new markets for marijuana distributors and their affiliates.  

                Personally I think that individual pot stocks which in most cases are small penny stocks are too risky to invest in, and I am by no means advertising them as a good investment. What I am saying is that the marijuana industry as a whole is in a position to benefit from the new outlook that seems to be presenting itself.

                If you wish to invest in pot stocks I would recommend investing into multiple companies this will give you a large spread over the industry which will inevitably grow and produce profits within the next few years.

WILL BE POSTING ONCE EVERY WEEKEND ABOUT MY OPINIONS ON THE MARKET AND VARIOUS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES I HAVE FOUND.

IF YOU LIKED THIS ARTICLE FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE WORD SINCE I AM CURRENTLY ADVERTISING SOLELY THROUGH WORD OF MOUTH

 

PLEASE FEEL FREETO LEAVE COMMENTS ON HOW YOU LIKED THE BLOG