This Analyst Calls Tesla 7 Times More 'Capital Efficient' Than Rivals: Here's Why

NewStreet Research analyst Pierre Ferragu has hailed Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Robotaxi efforts compared to the likes of Alphabet Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo.

Tesla ‘Seven Times More Capital Efficient' Than Rivals, Says Pierre Ferragu

In an interview with influencer Farzad Mesbahi on Saturday, Ferragu shared his thoughts on the company's Robotaxi efforts. "Tesla is seven times more capital efficient than competitors," Ferragu said, adding that Waymo still faced issues related to costs.

"Waymo today, today on a cost basis, is actually not very competitive" against the likes of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER). He then said that Waymo's cost-per-mile was "slightly in excess" of that of Uber.

Ferragu shared that Tesla's advantage lies in its ability to "leverage Tesla owners in the area who can contribute to the [Robotaxi] network with their personal cars," during peak hours, echoing CEO Elon Musk's earlier claims about owners being able to add personal vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet. Ferragu shared that this was an advantage in terms of capital intensity for Tesla.

In the research released by the analyst, he shared that Tesla benefits "from a simpler sensor suite," compared to Waymo, as well as "lower manufacturing costs."

Uber vs Tesla

The analyst also shared that Uber's best way to compete against Tesla's fleet advantage was to partner with Robotaxi providers and integrate them into its own platform, something which it could do with the Baidu Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:BIDU) Apollo Go Robotaxi in London this year, as well as Waymo in the city of Atlanta.

Elon Musk's HW4 Claims

Recently, Musk claimed that Tesla vehicles with the AI4 (HW4) chips would be able to run Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) without any additional upgrades to the chip. He also shared that the company was bringing back its Dojo program with the Dojo3 chipset, which would help in Space-based AI compute.

Tesla Offers Free FSD Transfer Till End Of March

The company also shared that the free Full Self-Driving (FSD) transfer service will end on March 31, adding that customers would need to place an order for their new vehicle by March 31 to qualify for free FSD transfers. However, they can take delivery even after the deadline and still qualify, provided they placed an order by March 31.

According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, Tesla scores well on the Quality and offers a favorable price trend in the Medium and Long term.

Price Action: TSLA slipped 0.24% to $437.50 at Market close on January 16, slipping 0.01% further to $437.44 during the After-hours trading.

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