The Barefoot Investor has revealed why he is refusing to invest in Tesla despite admitting he was wrong about the future popularity of driverless taxis.
Scott Pape, 46, said in his column for The Daily Telegraph who was not convinced that Tesla’s stock price would skyrocket if they managed to launch their own robotaxis.
His advice came in response to a reader named Trevor who wrote in and asked if Barefoot Investor had “changed its tune” on investing in Tesla.
“Ark Invest guru Cathie Wood just increased her stake in the company in anticipation of the robotaxi revolution,” he wrote.
‘She predicts it will be a $10 trillion global market, says Tesla will capture most of that market, and predicts that Tesla’s stock price will increase tenfold.’
Trevor then described Tesla founder Elon Musk as a “genius” who believes “robot taxis are the future” of the company.
“So, given that the stock price has fallen recently, is now the time to buy some shares?” he wrote.
Australia’s favourite financial investor has admitted he was wrong about cars.
Barefoot investor Scott Pape (pictured) admitted he was wrong about driverless taxis, but still won’t invest in Tesla
“For years I have been very skeptical that fully autonomous driving could be achieved,” he wrote.
‘Still, I’m happy to admit I was wrong.
‘Google’s robotaxi company Waymo not only offers driverless taxis, but also makes 100,000 paid trips per week in the United States (compared to 50,000 a few months ago).’
Mr Pape went on to say that driverless vehicles have proven to be safer than “smelly humans” driving and fewer collisions have been recorded.
“At least in big cities, it looks like robotaxis really are going to be the next big thing,” he said.
While admitting he was wrong, the financial guru questioned the figures put forward by Ark Invest chief executive Catherine Wood.
“I wouldn’t want Cathie in the cockpit of my portfolio: Her Ark Invest has destroyed $14 billion ($20.8 billion) in wealth over the past decade, according to Morningstar, which tracks her funds,” he said.
The barefoot investor once again showed his cynicism by revealing the real reason why he believes Wood is promoting Tesla stock to his investors.
“Looking back at your research on Tesla, I can understand why,” he said.
“It’s a pure publicity stunt by a fund manager trying to boost the share price of a company he already owns.”
Mr. Pape went on to question the validity of Ms. Wood’s research, wondering where she got her huge prediction that Tesla would have a 1,000 percent return on investment.
“Well, Cathie predicts that in less than five years, an incredible 90 percent of Tesla’s future profits will come from something that doesn’t exist yet: Robotaxis,” he wrote.
‘To be fair, Elon Musk did announce that Tesla was on track to have 1 million robotaxis on the road… by 2020.’
Tesla has yet to launch its robotaxis, which were due to launch in 2020 (file photo of Tesla vehicles charging)
The Barefoot Investor revealed that Tesla will have “zero robotaxis” by 2024, saying that on its website “the fine print” even says that the company’s Autopilot “does not make the vehicle autonomous.”
Mr Pape said that while the company has not yet launched its robotaxis, he now believes they will, but he does not think investors will get rich from their launch.
“I remain very skeptical at this point. After all, in China, the main attraction of robotaxis is that they are very cheap,” he wrote.
The investor said the financials don’t add up to giving people a big return on their investment when base fares in China start at 83 cents, compared with the base of $3.73 for a human-driven taxi.
“To me, this sounds like a driverless race to the bottom,” Barefoot Investor said.
