Tesla Bull Cathie Wood Calls Out Popular Pseudonymous Social Media Commentator For Ford Counter

Tesla Inc TSLA super-bull Cathie Wood on Tuesday called out a popular Twitter user for “railing against” the money manager-led Ark Investment Management’s analysis on the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle company and its success.

What Happened: A pseudonymous Twitter handle, who goes by the username "WallStCynic," on Tuesday countered Wood’s post that shared how her investment firm centered all its research around Wright’s law to successfully forecast percentage cost declines, including in both space and electric vehicle sectors. 

Wood explained how Ark Invest had used Wright’s Law to showcase cost declines over the years and it can help change the game. The money manager shared a post showing how massive cost declines for rockets, satellites and terminals led to record space missions this year. 

The analogy drew a sharp reaction from the pseudonymous Twitter user, who said Ford Motor Company’s F cumulative production has doubled at least six times over the last 45 years.

Wood asked the Twitter user to “redo the Ford numbers in real terms” and offered an invitation to engage in a debate or a podcast.

@WallStCynic said Ford has produced 30 million F-150’s since it was introduced in 1975, when it was offered at a retail price of $4,500 for the base model. That translates to $23,300 in today’s time, though the actual retail price for the base model is $29,300 now.  

Ark Invest analyst Sam Korus, who originally shared the analogy, said the F-150 from 1975 and the model on sale today are not the same as the amount of technology content has gone up dramatically, which would account for “performance” in some way.

“A 1975 f150 doesn’t start the cumulative production clock. I’d bet most of the parts going into 1975 had a high cumulative production base at that time,” Korus said.

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Why It Matters: Ark Invest has previously used Wright’s Law to estimate that Tesla’s cost of production would lower over the years, which in turn would significantly push up its margins. Korus had in a September 2019 forecast that the Model 3’s gross margin could double to more than 30% within the next 18 months. 

Ark Invest has sold shares worth over a billion dollars in Tesla since September and booked profit. The firm has been, for years, piling up shares in the electric vehicle company at far lower levels, a stock it predicts would hit the $3,000 mark by the end of 2025. 

Wood is known to not be hesitant in booking profits in favorite stocks when they run up significantly and seek to buy back again at lower levels.

Tesla stock joined the $1 trillion market cap in October after shares climbed on the back of record third-quarter deliveries and a large order from a rental company. 

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 4.29% higher at $938.53 a share on Tuesday.