Maybe a few years ago this was true. Now it is certainty not. Tesla cash on hand and free cashflow numbers mean they can be cashflow positive and continue to grow.
I didn't invest in Tesla years ago, because of mythology, but because they had the right plan, in the right markets with the right CEO to execute on that plan. That is exactly what happened. There are simply not many markets so large and few companies that ever have shown consistent growth in those markets.
All the claims that people made to disagree with the Bull case simply didn't hold up to actual hold up under investigation.
Analysing their growth and operational leverage their investment were generating indicated that most analysts were totally missing the story, that a lot of the negatives would flip and that the stock would reflect that reality eventually.
I however am surprised how fast and heavy that flip happened.
However Tesla strategy continues to be correct, they are only have the freedom/cash to get into some next generation initiatives and I see a clear path to continued growth for years to come. The team around the CEO is only improving, Tesla is building expertise in literally everything, mining, chemical refining, material science, high speed manufacturing, chip design, various battery technologies like silicon anodes, aluminium die casting, deep learning and so on.
I sold some shares to cover my position, but the bull case is still much better then many people give Tesla credit for. The stock might flatten out again for a while as it did before but there is a lot of upside here. Maybe Tesla will fail to execute, that is true, but that doesn't make it 'desperately risky'. Any company, specially any growth company, might fail to execute. The question is how likely is that and how large is the upside if they do execute.