SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk participates in a joint press conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022.
Andrew Latif | Reuters
Elon Musk sees elements of recession in China and Europe and says the US Federal Reserve is raising interest rates too much.
But when asked on Tesla’s The world’s richest person expressed little concern about third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
“Honestly, we love metals rain or shine,” Musk said in response to an analyst’s question. “We’re not reducing our output in any meaningful way, recession or non-recession.”
Tesla report adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share, topping analysts’ estimates of 99 cents per share. Shares fell 5% in extended trading as revenue hit $21.45 billion, falling short of analyst expectations of $21.96 billion. The company has lost 45% of its value this year.
Musk has criticized the Fed, which has raised its benchmark interest rate to try to reduce soaring inflation. He continued on that topic on Wednesday.
“The Fed’s decisions make sense if you’re looking in the rearview mirror, not if you’re looking out the windshield,” Musk said.
Still, even as capital costs are rising along with commodity prices, Musk sees Tesla as fine as electric vehicles replace gas-powered vehicles.
“The public realizes that the world is moving towards electric vehicles and it would be foolish to buy a new petrol car at this point because the residual value of that petrol car would be very low,” Musk said. “So we’re in a very good position.”
Musk added, “I wouldn’t say it’s recession-proof but it’s recession-proof, because the people of Earth have basically made the decision largely to move away from gasoline cars.”
Tesla CEO also commented on his pending $44 billion acquisition Twitter. He is currently stuck in a Legal battle with the social media company although he recently changed course and said he would stick to his purchase agreement.
Musk said he’s “excited about the Twitter situation” and that the company has been “tired for a long time but has incredible potential.”
“The long-term potential for Twitter is an order of magnitude greater than its current value,” Musk said.
