My Investing Muse

VinFast hit the news with a 700% stock value surge. VinFast became the world's 3rd most valuable automated after listing and what do we know about VinFast? (The financial information is taken from their SEC submissions.) From the above, I have a few observations (in USD$) for 3 months ending 31 March 2023: Total revenue is $65.11M. Note that there is a drop in revenue of almost 50% from the same quarter 1 year ago. Total Cost of Sales is $222M Gross loss is $161M The total loss for the period is $598M Thus, the company has yet to achieve break even. V Coming to the balance sheet, here are the observations: Current liabilities ($3.5M) are much more than Current assets ($1.8M) - thus, raising some short-term liquidity concerns. The accumulated losses stand at $5.9M Total assets are valued at $5.08B but total liabilities stand at about $7.2B There is also an increase in the inventories on hand compared Q1 between 2022 and 2023. This is an item to look out for. It could turn into red f...

From Twitter user ~ Sawyer Merritt NEWS: Ford has reported Q1 earnings, and for the first time have broken out EV earnings. • EPS : $0.63 adj. vs $0.41 expected • Auto revenue: $39.09B vs $36.08B expected Ford's EV unit lost $700 million in Q1, with EBIT margin being -102.1%. Total combined free cash flow was $700 million. From CNBC  News extract: The company reiterated it expects full-year adjusted earnings between $9 billion and $11 billion and roughly $6 billion in adjusted free cash flow. Ford said it plans to have capital expenditures of between $8 billion and $9 billion in 2023.   Ford also reconfirmed it expects to lose about $3 billion from its electric vehicle operations, known as Model e, in 2023. Ford said the operations’ loss widened to $722 million in the first quarter from $380 million a year earlier as it ramps up EV production. Those losses were washed out, however, by the company’s traditional car business, known as Ford Blue, which earned $2.6 billion, and th...

BYD News updates (19 - 24 Oct 2022) These are compiled from the various articles from CnEVPost . BYD produces over 2 million solar modules in Brazil  In April, BYD opened a new photovoltaic module production line at its Brazil plant, allowing for increased productivity and efficiency. https://cnevpost.com/2022/10/24/byd-produces-over-2-million-solar-modules-in-brazil/ BYD launches Yuan Plus EV in Colombia.  BYD has been selling its new energy passenger vehicles in partnership with local dealers since 2020 and has delivered nearly 3,000 units in the country to date. https://cnevpost.com/2022/10/21/byd-launches-yuan-plus-ev-in-colombia/ BYD-Benz JV Denza sees 1st production unit of D9 MPV roll off line.  Denza management had previously expected 10,000 units of the model to be delivered in December, although the current delivery schedule has been delayed from the previous one. https://cnevpost.com/2022/10/21/denza-1st-production-unit-of-d9-roll-off-line/ Tesla's only challen...

Who is BYD? BYD is probably the most vertically integrated EV maker in the world. BYD overtook LG Energy Solution to become the world's No. 2 battery maker in July. BYD NEV quarter sales till Q3/2022 - CNEVPOST Recent news about BYD (in June 2022) In January this year, BYD invested an additional RMB 20 billion to build the second phase of the auto industrial park, according to Shenzhen Economic Daily. The investment in the two phases of the project will total RMB 25 billion, and the annual output value is expected to exceed RMB 100 billion when all production is reached, according to the report. BYD stopped production and sales of traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in March to focus on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). It sold 114,943 vehicles in May, marking the third consecutive month of more than 100,000 units. From January to May, BYD sold 507,314 units, up 348.11 percent from 113,213 units in the same period last year. BYD...

It is not all bad news for BYD amidst Berkshire sales Source: CnEVPost Buffett sells additional 1.7 million BYD shares after first move late last month Berkshire reduced its stake in BYD to 18.87 percent on September 1 after cutting its holdings by 1.176 million BYD H shares. BYD overtakes LG Energy Solution to become world's No. 2 battery maker in July From January to July, BYD's global share remained lower than LG Energy Solution, with the two at 12.6 percent and 14.2 percent respectively. BYD denies it will raise prices after rumor sparked widespread buzz. BYD's pure electric vehicle models will increase in price by RMB 10,000 and plug-in hybrid models will rise by RMB 6,000, local media reported earlier. Denza is the joint investment between BYD and Mercedez Benz targeting the luxury market Denza D9 MPV expected to start deliveries at end of Sept, exec expects 10,000 deliveries in Dec The Denza D9 is expected to deliver more than 3,000 units in October and 5,000-7,000 u...

Source: https://cnevpost.com/2022/07/28/shanghai-aims-to-see-over-50-of-vehicle-sales-be-purely-electric-by-2025/ As per reported by CnEVPost on 28 July 2022, Shanghai aims to see over 50% of vehicle sales be purely electric by 2025. Shanghai is accelerating the full electrification of public sector vehicles and encouraging the private sector to buy electric passenger cars, according to a carbon peak implementation plan.  Screenshot of the news article Good news for the EV makers like Tesla, BYD, NIO, LI and Xpeng.   From a recent CNN news article dated 17 May 2022: The city (Shanghai) ranks No. 1 in overall car sales — about 736,700 new vehicles were sold in Shanghai last year, the most among all Chinese cities, according to statistics from the country's main insurance regulator. The EV manufacturers will need to step up - expand their capacity, manage their supply chain and also secure their supplies within the next 3 years .  The infrastructure for charging and battery sw...

Over the recent weeks, there are much news about new vehicle production plants in China, mainly Electric Vehicles (EV).  China seems to be attracting the biggest investments to build cars, especially EV in the coming years.  While there are more "players" in the EV industry, the competition will only be good for sustainability and the consumer.  With an annual car sales of approximately 78 million (as of 2020).  With the global car market expected to grow to about USD$9 trillion by 2030, China looks to benefit significantly with news of such investments. It is no surprise as the China auto market is the single biggest market in the world.  There are no better test beds with the sheer population size of 1.3 billion.  With China poised to take over USA as the #1 global economy within the next 15 years, such investments are strategic and simply logical. While Tesla has an unquestionable lead, there will be competition in this important industry.  More imp...

BYD is not only an auto manufacturer. But they are also one of the biggest battery producers in the world. They are also one of the biggest commercial electric vehicle makers, OEM for mobile devices, and chip makers and they have invested in lithium mining businesses. BYD will be one of the key global players who will help us transit into a more sustainable future. A company to consider as part of our portfolio. News extract (from CnEVPost): There have been many rumors over the past year that BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY, HKG: 1211) will supply batteries to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), but they have not been confirmed until today. BYD will soon supply batteries to Tesla, said Lian Yubo, the company's executive vice president and president of its automotive engineering research institute, in an interview with Kui Yingchun, host of state-owned media CGTN, according to a video of the interview released today. BYD installed 4.27 GWh of power batteries in China in April, ranking second with a 32.2...

Tesla released their earnings with a solid beating of the estimates: Summary EPS 3.22 Vs 2.27 Revenue 18.76B Vs 17.84B Earnings Summary from Investing.com Tesla's quarterly revenue since inception from Twitter user @ICannot_Enough From the table above, we can see the  strong growth of Tesla's revenue  from the start in 2009.  The growth looks to be compounding over the years. Tesla's stock has risen over 5% post-market as earnings updates unfold. There is much optimism with insurance growth , Optimus humanoid & FSD and the ramp up production of the 2 new GigaFactories (Berlin & Texas) would provide more reasons to be bullish about $TSLA.  FSD is expected to go live by 2023. Extract from Tesla's Shareholder deck dated 20 Apr 2022 OVERVIEW Cash Operating cash flow less CAPEX (free cash flow) of $2.2B in Q1 Total debt ex. vehicle and energy product financing under $0.1B Profitability $3.6B GAAP operating income; 19.2% operating margin in Q1 $3.3B GAAP net inco...

Gigafactory Shanghai (the world's biggest EV factory) produces about 2,000 vehicles daily. As per Elon Musk, Tesla could have produced more if not for the supply chain challenges & 13 days lockdown at Shanghai. More production growth is expected with Berlin, Texas (grand opening on 7th Apr 2022) and Shanghai's expansion. Shanghai's expansion will more than double production capacity in China to meet growing demand for its cars in the country and export markets. All the locations combined would give Tesla the annual production capacity of 2 million units.  This would not happen overnight as the Gigafactories take time to ramp up, optimize their production and sort out the supply chain challenges from the respective regions.  Thus, the 2 million annual production looks more possible after few quarters of run in. Tesla is expected to announce updates about new Gigafactory in other locations soon as Tesla works towards the target of 20 million unit...