6 Reasons Tesla’s $9 Trillion Robotaxi Dreams Will Likely Fail

Summary:

  • Fund manager Cathie Wood made headlines with her $2,600 5-year price target for Tesla, Inc., with a best-case scenario of $3,200, 17X upside by 2029.
  • Her thesis is that 90% of Tesla’s value will come from licensing its self-driving tech, thus capturing much of the $9 trillion revenue of the robotaxi industry by 2030.
  • Robotaxis will likely cost $150K to $200K each, and building a global fleet would cost over $35 trillion. Only Amazon and Alphabet’s Waymo have the necessary cash flow.
  • Amazon’s current consensus free cash flow of 41% through 2029 justifies a 300% return, or $965 per share, within five years. It could boost your income growth by 2% to 4% through annual rebalancing.
  • If Cathie Wood is right about robotaxis, Amazon’s potential upside, through its Zoox subsidiary, is as high as 18X in the best-case scenario, higher than Tesla’s (9% faster income growth). And if robotaxis fail, Tesla is in trouble (according to CEO Elon Musk). Amazon investors still own Amazon, which is expected to generate $700 billion in free cash flow through 2029.

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Cathie Wood is renowned for her, let’s say, somewhat optimistic forecasts on Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA).

Cathie Wood’s Tesla Price Forecasts For 2029

  • Bear Case Target: $2,000 per share by 2029 (25th percentile outcome)
  • Base Case/Expected Value Target: $2,600

Year Amazon R&D (Millions) Amazon Capex (Millions) Total Growth Spending (Millions)
2024 $87,166 $62,478 $149,644
2025 $97,433 $68,367 $165,800
2026 $107,210 $65,861 $173,071
2027 $108,552 $73,063 $181,615
2028 $118,013 $72,638 $190,651
2029 $127,446 $75,651 $203,097
Total $645,820 $418,058 $1,063,878
Annual Growth Rate 7.9% 3.9% 6.3%

Year Tesla R&D (Millions) Tesla Capex (Millions) Total Growth Spending (Millions)
2024 $4,359 $10,966 $15,325
2025 $4,705 $10,770 $15,475
2026 $5,532 $10,675 $16,207
2027 $212 $10,120 $10,332
2028 $7,613 $11,591 $19,204
2029 $9,467 $12,572 $22,039
Total $31,888 $66,694 $98,582
Annual Growth Rate 16.8% 2.8% 7.5%

Year Alphabet R&D (Millions) Alphabet Capex (Millions) Total Growth Spending (Millions)
2024 $49,290 $47,945 $97,235
2025 $53,957 $50,582 $104,539
2026 $57,752 $52,096 $109,848
2027 $65,003 $55,349 $120,352
2028 $71,025 $55,747 $126,772
2029 $77,140 $57,323 $134,463
Total $374,167 $319,042 $693,209
Annual Growth Rate 9.4% 3.6% 6.7%

Year Sales Free Cash Flow EBITDA EBIT (Operating Income) Net Income
2023 $574,785 $36,658 $109,538 $36,852 $30,425
2024 $638,776 $62,608 $136,848 $61,764 $48,618
2025 $710,140 $76,348 $157,314 $77,012 $62,584
2026 $785,929 $104,744 $181,735 $97,992 $79,586
2027 $860,354 $127,536 $210,185 $116,594 $95,778
2028 $924,758 $149,486 $241,558 $136,897 $112,630
2029 $1,008,330 $176,399 $276,364 $163,368 $135,349
Annualized Growth 2024-2029 9.8% 41.9% 18.4% 28.2% 28.2%
Cumulative 2024-2029 $4,928,287 $697,121 $1,204,004 $653,627 $534,545

Year Company Free Cash Flow (USD)
2028 (consensus forecast) Amazon $149,486,000,000
2022 Saudi Aramco $148,540,000,000
2022 Apple $111,440,000,000
2018 Saudi Aramco $111,070,000,000
2021 Saudi Aramco $107,510,000,000
2021 Apple $95,010,000,000
2019 Saudi Aramco $85,670,000,000
2020 Apple $73,430,000,000
2021 Alphabet $67,012,000,000
2022 Microsoft $63,330,000,000
2019 Apple $63,040,000,000
2022 Alphabet $60,010,000,000
2018 Apple $58,360,000,000
2021 Microsoft $56,710,000,000
2020 Saudi Aramco $49,040,000,000
2020 Alphabet $42,843,000,000
2020 Microsoft $40,110,000,000
2019 Microsoft $38,470,000,000
2019 Alphabet $36,990,000,000
2018 Microsoft $32,470,000,000
Total $1,490,541,000,000
% Total From Amazon In 2028 Alone 10.03%

Year Sales Free Cash Flow EBITDA EBIT (Operating Income) Net Income
2023 $304,296 $74,020 $121,040 $84,952 $71,645
2024 $339,262 $87,896 $137,389 $98,447 $83,080
2025 $376,274 $100,457 $159,429 $111,994 $95,268
2026 $411,304 $114,535 $174,592 $122,527 $104,229
2027 $436,139 $149,000 $192,782 $134,336 $116,489
2028 $497,207 $167,819 $221,758 $156,706 $136,825
2029 $585,828 $207,213 $286,790 $234,327 $197,292
Annualized Growth 2023-2029 11.5353% 18.7166% 15.4620% 18.4245% 18.3915%
Cumulative 2024-2029 $2,646,014 $826,920 $1,172,740 $858,337 $733,183


Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of AMZN, KMLM either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.


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