Tesla’s Daring Move

Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing

The Motley Fool

Investing, Business

4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For several years, Tesla has been straddling the fence between an electric vehicle manufacturer and its ambition to pursue autonomous driving and humanoid robots. This most recent quarterly report looks like the sign that the company has picked a side. Plus, the ups and downs of Meta’s and Microsoft’s earnings. Tyler Crowe, Matt Frankel, and Jon Quast discuss: - Tesla’s earnings - Elon Musk’s announcement that Tesla will discontinue production of the Model S and X. - Meta’s massive capital spending plan - Microsoft’s future getting closely tied to OpenAI - Stocks on our radar Companies discussed: TSLA, META, MSFT, GOOG, LUV, AAON, BMI Host: Tyler Crowe Guests: Matt Frankel, Jon Quast Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tesla makes an awfully daring move. This is Motley Fool Money.
0:10.2	Welcome to Motley Full Money. Welcome to Motley Full Money. I'm Grow, and today I'm joined by longtime full contributors,
0:25.7	Matt Frankel and John Quast. Guys, the earnings fire hose has been set to full blast this week
0:31.9	because we have seen a slew of earnings reports across just about every industry. We can't hit
0:37.2	everything in this
0:38.3	one show alone. So we're going to kind of focus on the big companies and the bold moves today.
0:44.0	We'll look at meta and Microsoft moving big time in the market. But we're going to start with
0:48.6	what's mentioned in the headline here with Tesla. The company reported earnings per share of 50 cents for the quarter.
0:55.6	It beat estimates, but it was down 63% from this time last year, and it was the lowest
1:00.2	fourth quarter earnings results since 2020. Now, what likely surprised anyone more than anything
1:07.5	else in the numbers was Tesla's very ambitious capital spending plan
1:12.3	and the things they were talking about on the conference call. Tesla announced it will more
1:16.4	than double its annual capital spending to $20 billion for 2026. Elon Musk floated the idea
1:23.0	of building his own semiconductor factories. Tesla expects to invest $2 billion in Elon Musk's
1:31.0	private XAI, their AI startup, and it announced it would discontinue production of its S and
1:38.5	X models so it can repurpose its Fremont plant for building Optimus robots. Guys, I feel like I read a 10K just listening to the transcript and trying to get through all of this.
1:49.6	It's been huge moves and a lot of announcements in Tesla.
1:52.9	And I see it as two ways of looking at it.
1:55.9	Either one, Tesla is pushing all of its chips into the autonomy, robot, and AI table.
2:03.2	You know, damn the torpedoes, we're going this way.
2:05.6	Or, you know, kind of two, these ambitious announcements might be papering over the fact that
2:11.1	its auto business is a little bit in decline and its financials are not what they were.
	...

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