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Comment by gfodor | Hacker News Reader

"Betting" is the operative word here. I think Elon is going to be successful, but that doesn't mean I want to gamble on TSLA stock. In other words, TSLA is not an "investment" if you realize you are essentially betting on some future outcome that is far from certain. It's a gamble. It would be great if people made this distinction (not saying you don't)

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Yeah agreed; in my blog post & comments I talk about how the stock could definitely go to $0 if the company missteps. But then again, after driving a Model S, I believe it's the best car out there, so as long as the company executes well I'm very bullish on the stock, especial in the medium to long term ( >1 year).

Tesla's market cap is currently one and a half times Fiat's. I know it's a rough measure, but that seems a bit excessive.

Stock prices are generally based on the expected future profitability of a company. Tesla's expectations are vastly higher than Fiat...

On the other hand, the stock of every legacy automaker could go to $0 if Tesla is successful and the legacy automakers fail to transition to building electric cars (or even just fail to shed the obnoxious dealerships).

And the stock of every electric power distribution monopoly could go to $0 if solar panels and batteries get cheap enough that we don't need the grid anymore.

All investments are gambling to at least some extent.

So is crossing the street. But you don't call this gambling.

Many investments are purchasing the rights to future fairly predictable cash flows. Labeling these as gambles dilutes the meaning of the word.

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