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Do you guys think it's a good idea to buy TSLA on day one?

I would say no. The strongest analogy between Tesla and a recent IPO I see is Clearwire - similar circumstances, large capital intensive business with some hype behind the technology but no real revenues to back it up.

Getting into an IPO on day one is usually not a good idea unless the company has reliable revenue and there is a reason to expect 20-30+% growth near term (Google, First Solar,etc). Many ipos will look like Clearwire (and for example, American Apparel, Isilon, and to some extent Rackspace etc.), a IPO price which stays steady then a significant drop.

Tesla won't have a reliable revenue increase until 2012 as far as I can tell, which is a long time of stagnation which the market will not take kindly too, IMO.

I'm not familiar with Clearwire, but perhaps another useful analogy would be the stock of Vonage, which IPO'd in 2007 at $13ish I believe. Vonage wasn't profitable up until last year and their stock is at $2.47 as of today's close.

Yes, as long as whatever amount invested isn't going to cause sleepless nights and you're willing to wait 5-10 years before you sell it.

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