Musk comments unsettle investors, stock falls

Tesla Motor shares dived in morning trading today after an unsettling analysts’ conference call with CEO Elon Musk late Wednesday, after the company announced large losses in the fourth quarter and for all of 2014.

The share price dropped as low as $193.40 this morning, down 9.1% from Wednesday’s close of $212.80. The price had worked back up near $200 by noon.

One of the comments by Musk that seemed to rattle investors was: “We’re going to spend staggering amounts of money on capex,” referring to capital expenditures on development of the Model X and Model 3, as well as the huge battery “gigafactory” under construction in Nevada.

Even though he reassured analysts the outlay will have “good ROI,” or return on investment, their remarks and questions in the call made clear that it was a startling comment.

He also said the effect of very slow sales in China had been “blown out of proportion,” even though he has said previously that China’s an important part of Tesla’s global expansion plans.

Tesla on Wednesday reported a loss of $107;.6 million, or $0.86 a share, in the fourth quarter, worse than the $74.7 million it lost a year earlier.

For all of 2014, the maker of electric luxury cars reported, it lost $294 million, vs. a loss of $74 million for all of 2013.