MMarketMath

TSLA

Fast growerQuality: Medium (58/100)3 red flags

Tesla, Inc. · Consumer Discretionary · Automobile Manufacturers

$348.95

52w 297.38 – 498.83

20y monthly, adjusted

Mkt cap

$1.38T

P/E

377.7

P/FCF

230.4

FCF yield

0.4%

ROE

4.6%

Shldr yield

0.0%

div 0.0% + bb 0.0%

What today's price assumes

At $1.38T, the market is pricing in 42.1% annual free-cash-flow growth for the next decade (10% discount rate, 2.5% terminal growth). Over the last five years, FCF actually grew 17.4% per year — the price asks for acceleration beyond the historical record.

Simple DCF per-share range: $24 · $54 · $78 (4% / base / optimistic growth). An estimate, not a target.

Adjust the assumptions yourself →

Historical multiple lens

At its own median P/OCF of 75.3× across 8 years, TSLA would trade near $281/share (25th–75th percentile: $176–$362); it trades at 93.5× today.

Assumes the historical multiple regime persists — re-ratings can be permanent.

Growth record

Compound annual growth rates from as-filed 10-K data, split-adjusted

Rev 3y

+5.2%

Rev 5y

+24.6%

Rev 10y

+37.1%

EPS 5y

+38.8%

EPS 10y

FCF 5y

+17.4%

FCF 10y

Fundamentals

Fiscal 2009–2025, from SEC filings

Revenue

2009: $111.9M
2010: $116.7M
2011: $204.2M
2012: $413.3M
2013: $2.0B
2014: $3.2B
2015: $4.0B
2016: $7.0B
2017: $11.8B
2018: $21.5B
2019: $24.6B
2020: $31.5B
2021: $53.8B
2022: $81.5B
2023: $96.8B
2024: $97.7B
2025: $94.8B
$0$25.0B$50.0B$75.0B
09
12
15
18
21
24

Net income

2009: −$55.7M
2010: −$154.3M
2011: −$254.4M
2012: −$396.2M
2013: −$74.0M
2014: −$294.0M
2015: −$888.7M
2016: −$674.9M
2017: −$2.0B
2018: −$976.0M
2019: −$862.0M
2020: $721.0M
2021: $5.5B
2022: $12.6B
2023: $15.0B
2024: $7.1B
2025: $3.8B
$0$5.0B$10.0B$15.0B
09
12
15
18
21
24

Free cash flow

2009: −$92.7M
2010: −$168.0M
2011: −$312.3M
2012: −$505.3M
2013: −$6.2M
2014: −$1.0B
2015: −$2.2B
2016: −$1.4B
2017: −$3.5B
2018: −$3.0M
2019: $1.1B
2020: $2.8B
2021: $5.0B
2022: $7.6B
2023: $4.4B
2024: $3.6B
2025: $6.2B
$0$5.0B
09
12
15
18
21
24

Diluted shares (lower is better)

2015: 2.4B
2016: 2.7B
2017: 3.1B
2018: 3.1B
2019: 3.2B
2020: 3.2B
2021: 3.4B
2022: 3.5B
2023: 3.5B
2024: 3.5B
2025: 3.5B
01.0B2.0B3.0B
09
12
15
18
21
24

Margins

-100%0%091215182124
Net marginFCF marginGross margin
No data

Cash vs long-term debt

$0$10.0B$20.0B091215182124
CashLT debt

Quarterly

Discrete quarters from 10-Q filings; Q4 derived as fiscal year minus Q1–Q3. OCF is unwound from the year-to-date figures 10-Qs report. Compare to the same quarter a year ago — most businesses are seasonal.

Revenue by quarter

Q2'23: $24.9B
Q3'23: $23.4B
Q4'23: $25.2B
Q1'24: $21.3B
Q2'24: $25.5B
Q3'24: $25.2B
Q4'24: $25.7B
Q1'25: $19.3B
Q2'25: $22.5B
Q3'25: $28.1B
Q4'25: $24.9B
Q1'26: $22.4B
Q2'26: $28.2B
$0$10.0B$20.0B
23
24
24
25
26

Net income by quarter

Q2'23: $2.7B
Q3'23: $1.9B
Q4'23: $7.9B
Q1'24: $1.4B
Q2'24: $1.4B
Q3'24: $2.2B
Q4'24: $2.1B
Q1'25: $409.0M
Q2'25: $1.2B
Q3'25: $1.4B
Q4'25: $840.0M
Q1'26: $477.0M
Q2'26: $1.1B
$0$2.0B$4.0B$6.0B
23
24
24
25
26
QuarterRevenueYoYNet incomeYoYEPSOCF
Q2'26$28.2B+25.5%$1.1B−4.9%0.32$4.7B
Q1'26$22.4B+15.8%$477.0M+16.6%0.13$3.9B
Q4'25 *$24.9B−3.1%$840.0M−60.5%0.24$3.8B
Q3'25$28.1B+11.6%$1.4B−36.8%0.39$6.2B
Q2'25$22.5B−11.8%$1.2B−16.3%0.33$2.5B
Q1'25$19.3B−9.2%$409.0M−70.6%0.12$2.2B
Q4'24 *$25.7B+2.1%$2.1B−73.2%0.61$4.8B
Q3'24$25.2B+7.8%$2.2B+17.3%0.62$6.3B
Q2'24$25.5B+2.3%$1.4B−48.2%0.40$3.6B
Q1'24$21.3B−8.7%$1.4B−44.7%0.41$242.0M
Q4'23 *$25.2B+3.5%$7.9B+115.0%2.26$4.4B
Q3'23$23.4B+8.8%$1.9B−43.7%0.53$3.3B
Q2'23$24.9B+47.2%$2.7B+19.7%0.78$3.1B

Track record

Compound annual growth by period. For debt and share count, negative is the good direction.

Series3y5y10y15y
Revenue+5.2%+24.6%+37.1%+56.3%
Operating cash flow+0.1%+19.9%+40.1%
Free cash flow−6.3%+17.4%
EPS (diluted)−33.2%+38.8%
Equity+22.5%+29.9%+54.2%+49.0%
LT debt+85.6%−4.9%+12.5%+35.1%
Diluted shares+0.5%+1.7%+3.9%
Stock price+10.6%+7.3%+37.8%+42.9%

$100, 3 years ago

$135vs $176 in SPY

10.6% vs 20.7%/yr

$100, 5 years ago

$142vs $181 in SPY

7.3% vs 12.6%/yr

$100, 10 years ago

$2,469vs $412 in SPY

37.8% vs 15.2%/yr

$100, 15 years ago

$21,157vs $813 in SPY

42.9% vs 15.0%/yr

The $1 test — market value created per $1 of earnings retained (Buffett's hurdle: at least $1)

Last 5 years

$14.99

$659.1B created / $44.0B retained

Last 10 years

$37.01

$1.49T created / $40.2B retained

Quality & capital discipline

Cash-based returns and how management deploys capital

Cash ROIC

16.6%

OCF ÷ (equity + debt)

OCF / EV yield

1.0%

MC vs 10× OCF

9.72

≤1 = priced under 10× OCF

Debt / FCF

1.1y

SBC / FCF

45.4%

Owner earnings

$3.4B

OCF − capex − SBC

OE yield

0.2%

Share count 5y

+3.9%

per year; negative = buybacks

Capital intensity

net PP&E ÷ revenue

Sales efficiency

$0.35

new PP&E per $1 new revenue, 5y

Growth engine (5y): reinvested 88.1% of operating cash flow at an incremental return of 14.5% — an organically fundable growth rate of about 12.7% per year (growth ≈ reinvestment rate × incremental ROIC).

Checklist

13 of 27 checks pass · 48%. Checks with structurally missing inputs are excluded.

Growth & Consistency

4/7

  • Revenue growth

    24.6% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • EPS growth

    38.8% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • FCF growth

    17.4% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • Revenue rises consistently

    8 of 9 · up in ≥ 7 of last 10 years

    pass
  • FCF consistently positive

    7 of 10 · positive in ≥ 8 of last 10 years

    fail
  • Profitable every year

    6 of 10 · net income > 0 in ≥ 8 of last 10

    fail
  • Cash flow keeps up with sales

    19.9% vs 24.6% · OCF CAGR ≥ 0.9× revenue CAGR

    fail

Profitability

3/7

  • Net margin

    4.0% · ≥ 8%

    fail
  • Operating margin

    4.6% · ≥ 10%

    fail
  • Gross margin stable or rising

    18.0% vs 25.6% · no drop > 2 pts over 3y

    fail
  • Return on equity

    4.6% · ≥ 12%

    fail
  • Cash ROIC

    16.6% · ≥ 12%

    pass
  • FCF margin

    6.6% · ≥ 5%

    pass
  • Earnings back their cash

    OCF $14.7B vs NI $3.8B · OCF ≥ net income (latest FY)

    pass

Balance Sheet

5/5

  • Debt payable from cash flow

    1.1y · LT debt ≤ 3× FCF

    pass
  • Cash cushion

    251% · cash ≥ 50% of LT debt

    pass
  • Leverage

    0.08 · LT debt ≤ 1.5× equity

    pass
  • Equity positive and compounding

    $82.1B · equity > 0 and grew over ~5y

    pass
  • Interest burden

    8% · interest ≤ 15% of operating income

    pass

Capital Allocation

1/4

  • Share count flat or shrinking

    3.9% · ≤ +0.5%/yr over ~5y

    fail
  • Stock comp restrained

    45% · SBC ≤ 15% of FCF

    fail
  • Distributions funded by FCF

    0% · dividends + buybacks ≤ 100% of FCF

    pass
  • Repurchases are a habit

    0 of 10 · buybacks in ≥ 5 of last 10 years

    fail

Valuation Discipline

0/4

  • FCF yield

    0.4% · ≥ 3%

    fail
  • Earnings multiple

    377.7 · P/E ≤ 25

    fail
  • Price asks less than history delivered

    42.1% vs 17.4% · implied FCF growth ≤ historical FCF CAGR

    fail
  • Shareholder yield

    0.0% · dividends + buybacks ≥ 2% of market cap

    fail

Red flags

Mechanical checks — a flag is a question to investigate, not a verdict

Heavy stock compensation

Stock-based compensation consumes more than 30% of free cash flow.

Shareholder dilution

Diluted share count has grown by more than 2% per year over ~5 years.

Margin compression

Gross margin has fallen by more than 5 points over the last three years.

Financial data

As filed in 10-Ks; per-share figures split-adjusted. $ in millions.

FYRevenueGross profitOp incomeNet incomeEPSOCFCapExFCFDividendsBuybacksSBCCashLT debtEquityShares
202594,82717,0944,3553,7941.0814,7478,5276,2202,82516,5136,58482,1373,528
202497,69017,4507,0767,0912.0414,92311,3423,5811,99916,1395,53572,9133,498
202396,77317,6608,89114,9974.3013,2568,8994,3571,81216,3982,68262,6343,485
202281,46220,85313,65612,5563.6214,7247,1587,5661,56016,2531,02944,7043,475
202153,82313,6066,5235,5191.6311,4976,4825,0152,12117,5764,25430,1893,386
202031,5366,6301,9947210.215,9433,1572,7861,73419,3848,46222,2253,249
201924,5784,069-69-862-0.272,4051,3271,0788986,26810,4026,6183,249
201821,4614,042-388-976-0.312,0982,101-37493,6868,4114,9233,124
201711,7592,223-1,632-1,962-0.63-613,415-3,4764673,3688,8294,2373,124
20167,0001,599-667-675-0.25-1241,281-1,4053343,3935,8924,7532,714
20154,046924-717-889-0.37-5241,635-2,1591981,1972,0211,0842,413
20143,198882-187-294-0.13-57970-1,0271561,9062,960912
20132,013456-61-74-0.03258264-6818460667
201241330-394-396-0.20-266239-50550202401125
201120462-251-254-128184-31229255268224
201011731-147-154-12840-1682110072207
200911210-52-56-8112-93170-254

Some concepts are structurally absent for certain industries (banks report no gross profit or capex). Missing ≠ zero.