Musk just last week expressed his desire to meet Yilong Ma — a Chinese man who went viral for bearing a striking resemblance to him. Yilong Ma, left, is best known for being Elon Musk's Chinese doppelgänger — but he got suspended on the Chinese platforms Weibo and Douyin this week.MaYiLong/TikTok; Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk's Chinese doppelgänger, Yilong Ma, has been suspended on Chinese social media. Insider saw that his accounts on China's TikTok and Twitter were wiped clean at press time. Musk previously expressed a desire to meet Ma in person after Ma went viral on social media. Elon Musk's viral Chinese doppelgänger, Yilong Ma, appears to have been suspended on the Chinese versions of TikTok and Twitter.At press time, Insider saw that Ma's page on Douyin — China's version of TikTok — had been purged of all content. At the same time, a content-restriction notification citing a violation of the platform's policies was slapped on Ma's page on Weibo, the country's Twitter-like platform.Representatives from Douyin's parent company, Bytedance, and Weibo's parent company, Tencent, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider. Ma also didn't immediately reply to a request for comment from Insider.At press time, Ma's page on the international version of TikTok, where he is known by the username "Elong Musk," was still active. Ma has more than 239,000 followers on the platform, with about 3.9 million likes on his videos."All platform videos are ported, I only have TikTok. I love you," said the profile description on Ma's TikTok page. Ma first went viral on Douyin in November 2020 for videos that appeared to show a striking resemblance to Musk. He later attracted the attention of Musk when the Tesla CEO quipped in response to a clip of Ma that he, too, may be "partly Chinese."Ma subsequently uploaded several videos on TikTok, including one in which he expressed his thoughts on Musk's high-profile acquisition of Twitter. In this clip, he points excitedly at a printout of the Twitter icon, calling it "my bird!" @mayilong0 This is a free bird. I like him and I'm going to go to him right now. Because Elon Musk is my brother#elonmusk #tesla #twitter ♬ dance(256762) - TimTaj Ma's latest video on TikTok is a photo compilation of him posing in front of a Tesla, captioned: "I want to take my brother for a ride in my Tesla! #elonmusk #tesla." @mayilong0 I want to take my brother for a ride in my Tesla!#elonmusk #tesla ♬ GASLIGHT - INJI Ma's popularity later led to the Tesla CEO saying he would like to meet Ma in person."I'd like to meet this guy (if he is real)," Musk tweeted. "Hard to tell with deepfakes these days.""I am here. I want very much to see you too! I love you, you are my hero," Ma wrote in response to the billionaire in a post on Weibo.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Musk just last week expressed his desire to meet Yilong Ma — a Chinese man who went viral for bearing a striking resemblance to him. Yilong Ma (left) is best known for being Elon Musk's (right) Chinese doppelgänger — but he got suspended on China's Weibo and Douyin this week.MaYiLong/TikTok; Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk's Chinese doppelgänger Yilong Ma has been suspended on Chinese social media. Insider saw that his accounts on China's TikTok and Twitter were wiped clean at press time. Musk previously expressed a desire to meet Ma in person after the latter went viral on social media. Elon Musk's viral Chinese doppelgänger Yilong Ma appears to have been suspended on the Chinese versions of TikTok and Twitter. At press time, Insider saw that Ma's page on Douyin – China's version of TikTok – had been purged of all content. Meanwhile, a content restriction notification citing a violation of the platform's policies was slapped on Ma's page on Weibo, the country's Twitter-like platform. Representatives from Douyin's parent company Bytedance and Weibo's parent company Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider. Ma himself also did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Insider. At press time, Ma's page on the international version of TikTok, where he is known by the username "Elong Musk," was still active. Ma has just over 239,000 followers on the platform, with around 3.9 million likes on his videos. "All platform videos are ported, I only have TikTok. I love you," read the profile description on Ma's TikTok page. "Ma first went viral on China's version of TikTok, Douyin, in November 2020 for videos that appeared to show a striking resemblance to Musk. He later attracted the attention of Musk when the Tesla and SpaceX CEO quipped in response to a clip of Ma that he, too, may be "partly Chinese."Ma subsequently uploaded several videos on TikTok, including one where he expressed — in broken English — his thoughts on Musk's high-profile acquisition of Twitter. In this clip, he points excitedly at a printout of the Twitter icon, calling it "my bird!" @mayilong0 This is a free bird. I like him and I'm going to go to him right now. Because Elon Musk is my brother#elonmusk #tesla #twitter ♬ dance(256762) - TimTaj Ma's latest video on TikTok is a photo compilation of him posing in front of a Tesla, captioned: "I want to take my brother for a ride in my Tesla! #elonmusk #tesla."  @mayilong0 I want to take my brother for a ride in my Tesla!#elonmusk #tesla ♬ GASLIGHT - INJI  Ma's popularity later led to the Tesla CEO saying that he would like to meet Ma in the flesh if he proves to be a real person. "I'd like to meet this guy (if he is real). Hard to tell with deepfakes these days," Musk tweeted."I am here. I want very much to see you too! I love you, you are my hero," Ma wrote in response to the billionaire in a post on Weibo. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Musk first noticed Ma last year when a video of the latter surfaced on TikTok, prompting the billionaire to quip that he might be "partly Chinese." TikToker Yilong Ma (left) has gone viral on social media for being the Chinese lookalike of Tesla and SpaceX Ceo Elon Musk (right). Now Musk wants to meet him.MaYiLong0/TikTok; Taylor Hill/Getty Images Elon Musk says he'd like to meet his doppelgänger from China, Yilong Ma. Musk, however, wondered if the man was a "deepfake," saying it was "hard to tell." Ma, meanwhile, responded to Musk on social media, writing: "I love you. You are my hero."  Elon Musk says he'd like to meet his Chinese lookalike, a man from the northeastern Chinese province of Hebei — if he's real. Musk was responding this week to a Twitter user who suggested that the "Chinese Elon Musk" could be a "decoy" for the real deal. "I'd like to meet this guy (if he is real). Hard to tell with deepfakes these days," Musk tweeted. Ma, who bears a striking resemblance to Musk, first went viral on China's TikTok, Douyin, after a video of him standing next to a luxury car spread on the platform. The video found its way to Musk, prompting the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to quip on December 20, 2021, that he may be "partly Chinese."Ma now has a TikTok account under the username "Elong Musk," which has over 230,000 followers. He has since posted several videos on TikTok, including an introduction video where he refers to himself as "China's Elon Musk."  @mayilong0 My English is awful. But I will try my best to communicate with you！My bro！#tesla #elonmusk ♬ Horizon-Janji - 看见音乐 Ma also weighed in on Musk's high-profile acquisition of Twitter, posting a TikTok video where he animatedly points at a printout of the Twitter icon, calling it "my bird!"  @mayilong0 This is a free bird. I like him and I'm going to go to him right now. Because Elon Musk is my brother#elonmusk #tesla #twitter ♬ dance(256762) - TimTaj Ma's most recent video, posted this week, appeared to show him attempting to speak English. He  uploaded it with the caption: "Actually, I don't know what I'm talking about, please forgive me."  @mayilong0 Actually I don't know what I'm talking about, please forgive me. I'm embarrassed, I need an English teacher.#elonmusk #twins #tesla ♬ Canyons - Official Sound Studio  For his part, Ma has responded to Musk's overtures, saying that he would love to meet him too."I am here. I want very much to see you too! I love you, you are my hero," wrote Ma on Tuesday on China's Twitter-like Weibo. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Watch: Tesla On 'Autopilot Summons' Hits Private Jet A video posted on Twitter went absolutely viral in hours on Friday morning because it shows the stupidity of people who have too much faith in Tesla's autonomous driver assistance system, also known as "Autopilot."  Twitter account "Phylan" tweeted security camera footage of what appears to be a Tesla crossover (Model Y) or SUV (Model X) driving straight into a multi-million dollar private jet at an airport.  "Lol, someone tried to summon their Tesla via autopilot at an aviation trade show and it crashed into a 3 million dollar jet," the tweet read.  lol someone tried to summon their Tesla via autopilot at an aviation trade show and it crashed into a 3 million dollar jet pic.twitter.com/ae1Th49YsG — waffle party planner (@Phylan) April 22, 2022 One commenter on the tweet said: "All the AI trainers at tesla are groaning that they have to start training on airplanes."  "Wow, it's not the back end of a fire truck," someone else said. For some context, at least one Tesla with Autopilot engaged crashed in the back of a firetruck on a Florida highway several years ago.  Another person said: "A robot-guided EV running into a private jet on Earth Day is pretty on-the-nose, actually."  Besides a Tesla on Autopilot hitting a private jet (maybe the first time ever), federal regulators in the US have increased scrutiny around the driving feature as a number of accidents concerning the automated driving feature have occurred.  Tyler Durden Fri, 04/22/2022 - 13:40.....»»

A Decade Of Elon Musk's Tweets, Visualized Elon Musk is known for many things, but one of his most buzzworthy claims to fame is his online Twitter presence. Because of its candid nature, Musk’s Twitter feed provides the public with a unique opportunity to catch an unfiltered look into his eccentric mind. What can we learn from an in-depth look at Elon Musk’s Twitter feed? What subjects does he focus on the most, and how has his Twitter use changed over the past decade? Visual Capitalist's Carmen Ang and Nick Routley sifted through his entire tweet history to find out. Why Bother? To gain a high-level understanding of Musk’s Twitter profile, our research team sifted through his entire Twitter feed and compiled 15,000 of his tweets into a comprehensive dataset. Why go to all the effort? Here are a few reasons why we spent months sifting through Elon Musk’s Twitter feed: People care about what he has to say: Musk has over 77 million followers on Twitter, and his account is currently the 11th most followed (coming in between Ellen DeGeneres and Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India). Even run-of-the-mill replies to regular Twitter users receive thousands of shares, likes, and comments. Clearly, people are interested in his ideas and interactions. Musk tweets often, and candidly: These days, it’s not uncommon for Musk to share more than 30 tweets in a single day. And his Twitter conversations cover a wide range of topics, from serious conversations about technical aspects of his products to lighthearted memes. This is highly unusual for a person in his position. Some of his tweets have had a big impact: Elon’s tweets consistently make headlines and ruffle the feathers of big shots in business and politics. Elon’s Twitter fingers have moved the needle on everything from Tesla’s stock price to cryptocurrency markets. He’s become a public icon: He’s currently the richest person in the world, and last year, he was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. The companies that Musk runs are also hugely influential and disruptive. In other words, no matter how you feel about him personally, he’s a pretty big deal. Because of the above, we thought digging into the depths of Elon Musk’s Twitter feed was a worthy pursuit. Below, we’ll get into our methodology, and how we went about analyzing the mountains of tweets. How We Did It: Notes on Our Methodology Once we scraped a decade worth of Elon Musk tweets, we dug through the data and sorted the information to answer two main questions: What are Elon Musk’s most tweeted topics? How has his Twitter activity changed over the years? To answer the first question, we sorted Elon’s tweets into categories (based on keywords) and ranked each category based on the volume of mentions. The results are visualized in the circle chart in the middle of the graphic, which shows Musk’s most tweeted subjects over the last decade. To answer our second question (how has Elon’s Twitter activity changed over the years) we sorted Elon’s feed into three main topics—Tesla, SpaceX, and everything else—and showed which topics dominated his feed each year. Main Takeaways from the Analysis Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that the two main things Elon talks about the most are Tesla and SpaceX. He’s mentioned both companies consistently over the last decade, and as the timeline shows, Tesla and SpaceX take turns in the spotlight, depending on what’s going on for the companies at the time. While the topics and themes of his content have remained fairly consistent, the frequency of tweets has grown over the years.   Musk now uses Twitter very consistently, tweeting at least once on all but 14 days in 2021. His follower count has growth steadily over the years too:   As the above graphic shows, his follower growth started to escalate between late 2017 and mid-2018 as Musk began to burst into the public consciousness. Why? A lot was happening both personally and professionally for the busy founder: December 2017: Announcement on Twitter that the Boring Company was planning to release a limited edition flamethrower. 20,000 units were sold before the product was discontinued. February 2018: Tesla Roadster was launched into space. July 2018: 12 boys and their teacher get trapped in a cave in Thailand, and Elon gets heavily involved in efforts to try and rescue them. This includes an awkward—now deleted—tweet referring to a British cave diver as a pedophile. (Musk later won a defamation case in 2019.) August 2018: Elon announces on Twitter that he’s considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share. Tesla’s share price promptly dropped after this now infamous tweet was sent. Sept 2018: Musk appears on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and smokes weed with him. The spectacle grabs headlines after the podcast is published. From 2016 to 2018: A highly publicized, on-again-off-again relationship with actress Amber Heard. No matter how outlandish or shocking his comments have been, Musk’s companies continue to see success, and people have continued to show interest in keeping up with the founder’s thoughts—and dank memes—on Twitter. Highlights (and Lowlights) of Musk’s Twitter History In the next section below, we’ll cover some of Elon’s most iconic Twitter moments, hand-selected by our research team. The End of the Fake Elon Era Elon Musk’s first real tweet was shared in 2010. Prior to that, someone was pretending to be him and using the Twitter handle @elonmusk to tweet random and controversial things. Luckily, the imposter didn’t gain much traction, and the real Elon Musk cleared the air on June 4, 2010, with a tweet announcing his authentic arrival onto the platform: Please ignore prior tweets, as that was someone pretending to be me :) This is actually me. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2010 After this initial tweet, Musk didn’t tweet again until the end of 2011, though his account was still verified that year. His Twitter activity remained relatively low until 2012. A Splashdown to Remember In May 2012, Musk went to Twitter to share his excitement after the Dragon spacecraft successfully returned home. Splashdown successful!! Sending fast boat to Dragon lat/long provided by P3 tracking planes #Dragon — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2012 This landing made history, as SpaceX became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The engagement on this tweet highlights how much larger Musk’s audience is today. The tweet above, which is highlighting some very exciting news, only has about 350 retweets. The Boring Company Flamethrower In late 2017, Musk started selling Boring Company merchandise, mostly as a joke. But products were selling, and Elon decided to take things one step further, and announced to Twitter that he’d release a Boring Company flamethrower if 50,000 Boring branded hats sold: After 50k hats, we will start selling The Boring Company flamethrower — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2017 The hats did sell out, so true to his word, Musk released a limited edition flamethrower at $500 bucks apiece. All 20,000 units sold out. The $20 Million Quip In August 2018, Musk told Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private, at $420 a share. Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018 This tweet was a cheeky reference to marijuana, but it ended up costing a fortune. The SEC sued him with fraudulent charges, claiming this irresponsible tweet misled investors. He ended up paying millions in fines, and had to step down as Tesla’s chairman as a result of the drama. Candid COVID Opinions Musk hasn’t been shy about sharing his thoughts on the global pandemic. On March 6, 2020, he tweeted “the coronavirus panic is dumb.” Since then, he’s been vocal about his distrust in antigen tests, and isn’t afraid to share his frustrations around lockdowns with his followers: FREE AMERICA NOW — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020 He’s also said that the virus isn’t that deadly and that COVID-19 related deaths were inflated because doctors were wrongfully attributing deaths to the virus instead of other causes. Becoming the World’s Richest Human In 2021, Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world. His reaction was quite understated. In response to a tweet from @teslaownersSV sharing the news, he simply said, “how strange.” From there, he tweeted: Back to work I go … — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2021 Musk is still currently the richest person on the planet as of this article’s publication date, with a net worth of $213 billion. Bitcoin Boost Elon Musk’s foray into Bitcoin boosterism ramped up on January 29, 2021, when he added “#bitcoin” to his Twitter profile page, a move that appeared to have an impact on the price of BTC. Days later, Musk announced that Tesla acquired $1.5 billion in bitcoin, with plans to accept it as payment. You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021 The news caused the price of Bitcoin to jump 17% to $44,000, a record high at the time. Bitcoin remained in the spotlight through the year as the cryptocurrency continued to gather support from major financial institutions. Just days prior, Musk also added fuel to the speculative fire surrounding the GameStop stock. By simply tweeting the word “Gamestonk” paired with a link to Reddit’s infamous r/wallstreetbets, GME’s price exploded more than 150% higher. The Multi-Billion Dollar Question After facing backlash over his significant stockpile of wealth, Musk turned to Twitter to ask users if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock in order to pay taxes. Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021 The majority of Twitter users voted yes, and the billionaire actually followed through and sold more than $16 billion worth of Tesla stock. Reconnecting Ukraine In late February, as Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation called the SpaceX founder out on Twitter, asking for support. Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2022 Musk would reply within 24 hours, and soon after, Fedorov would tweet a photo of Starlink terminals arriving safely in the country. Tyler Durden Thu, 03/10/2022 - 19:40.....»»

After Tesla's Cyberquad for kids sold out, resellers on eBay are betting that people are willing to pay as much as $5,000 for the product. Tesla Tesla's Cyberquad for kids is being listed on eBay for over twice its original price. The electric carmaker began taking orders for the product on Dec. 6 and it sold out within a week. Several YouTubers posted videos unboxing the ATVs this week. After Tesla's Cyberquad for kids sold out, resellers on eBay are betting that people are willing to pay as much as $5,000 for the product, with some completed listings going for as high as $4,000.Tesla launched the quad bike in December and listed it for $1,900 on its website.  The product sold out within a week.The ATV is marketed toward children ages eight and up and has a top speed of 10 miles per hour. As of Thursday morning, there were over 40 listings on eBay for the product with prices ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 and over 60 Cyberquads appear to have already sold, including dozens for over $3,000.Earlier this week, multiple YouTuber's began posting unboxing videos of the product. Three YouTubers said the Cyberquad took about two hours to put together straight out of its box. The quad bike is made in the same angled style as Tesla's highly anticipated Cybertruck. When Tesla first revealed its Cybertruck in 2019, it also announced it would produce a full-sized two-seater ATV called the Cyberquad, which could be purchased alongside the truck. One YouTuber decided to try out the cyberquad for kids, which has a 150 pound weight limit, himself.The ATV has a lithium-ion battery that can run for about 15 miles and takes about five hours to reach a full charge, according to Tesla's site.One gaming content creator shared a TikTok video of his son frolicking with the new Cyberquad. @lozadamiguel #tesla #teslacybertruck #teslacyberquad #teslacyberquadforkids #cyberquad #gamergoals ♬ Ruff Ryders' Anthem (Re-Recorded / Remastered) - DMX  Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Tesla Owners Left Stranded In Cold After Smartphone App Crashes Over Weekend It's the most wonderful time of the year...that is, unless you are a Tesla owner stranded in the freezing cold unable to get inside your vehicle. Tesla owners got a nice early holiday gift this weekend when several owners reported not being able to get into their car due to "500 server errors" popping up on their Tesla smartphone apps. The error left some owner stranded in the cold over the weekend, StreetInsider wrote on Monday morning.  One Tesla owner from South Korea wrote “Still stuck in Seoul” on Twitter after the error popped up and he didn't have access to his Tesla.  I’m experiencing 500 server error to connect my @tesla Model 3 on my iOS app in Seoul, S.Korea. Seems like this is a worldwide issue. @elonmusk — Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) November 19, 2021 Downdetector showed a "large spike in reported Tesla server problems at around 5pm on Friday," StreetInsider wrote, noting that it was unknown how many Teslas were affected by the outage and exactly how many people wound up locked out of their cars. Tesla owner Zachary Kiefer was stranded outside of his vehicle for hours, the report said. The app started working again before a AAA assistance tow that he called arrived.  Source: Quora “I was pretty disappointed. They just didn’t seem to care,” he said of Tesla's customer service.  In response to the outage, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted: “Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic. Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” Whatever you say, Elon... Should be coming back online now. Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic. Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2021   Tyler Durden Mon, 11/22/2021 - 12:55.....»»

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said its app functionality is returning to normal after drivers were left struggling to use their cars, due to a server issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Maja Hitij/Getty Images Tesla's app server experienced an outage Friday, affecting hundreds of drivers, reports said. Downdetector said the outage occurred at around 3:33 p.m. ET.  "Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic," Elon Musk tweeted.  About 500 Tesla owners reported being locked out of their cars on Friday, due to a problem with the company's mobile app, according to Reuters. The outage appeared to occur at around 3:33 p.m. ET, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector. The blog Electrek first reported on the outage, with editor Fred Lambert saying he was unable to connect to his car through the app. Drivers used Twitter to complain about the problem, with some addressing Tesla and Elon Musk directly."I'm experiencing 500 server error to connect my @tesla Model 3 on my iOS app in Seoul, S.Korea. Seems like this is a worldwide issue. @elonmusk," one user wrote. In response to the Tesla owner, Musk tweeted: "Should be coming back online now. Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic."He added: "Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn't happen again." Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Tesla owners can unlock and access their cars through the mobile app, as opposed to traveling with the key. A representative for Tesla previously told Insider's Mary Hanbury that the key is still the primary way of using the car, however. The rep recommended that customers always carried it in case their phone cut out, for example. Model 3 owners also have the option to unlock their Tesla by using the "phone-as-key" function, which connects to the car via Bluetooth. If the app is down, owners would still be able to use this service. Tesla systems have suffered hiccups in the past. In 2019, customers said they were left "stranded" after the app ceased to work. And last September, Insider's Graham Rapier reported that Tesla's network appeared to briefly go down, forcing some customers to use their physical keys. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

TD Ameritrade Suspends Short Selling Of CAR, DWAC Shares Update (1:15PM ET): Similar to the chaos that ensued following the meme stock short squeeze at the start of the year, moments ago TD Ameritrade announced that it was not currently allowing short selling in Avis or Digital World Acquisition, according to a post on its website that says the list is as of Nov. 2 at 1:00 p.m. New York time. While shorting is prohibited, CAR and DWAC have no limitations on long calls and long puts. Custom spreads are not allowed, but standard spread orders are allowed. Opening orders on short individual options are not allowed except for cash-secured puts or covered calls, which must be placed through a broker. TD says it may implement additional requirements on opening trades on options that expire for AMC. TD says short selling of stock not allowed at this time for GameStop. “Please keep in mind that additional security and strategy requirements can be added and may change at any time, without notice due to volatility or other market conditions,” the website says * * * Update (11:10AM ET): The relentless AVIS rally just won't stop, and at last check, AVIS was up as much as 200%, sending its market cap to $27.7BN, higher than that of AMC, and to the very top of the Russell 2000! * * * Our first reaction when seeing the exponential move higher in shares of rental car operator Avid Budget Group (whose ticker is CAR yet the company is hardly a "car company") was whether they, too, had ordered a few hundred thousand Teslas in the latest cross-marketing gimmick. *AVIS BUDGET TRADING PAUSED AFTER SHARES SPIKE 36% How many teslas are they ordering? — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 2, 2021 Turns out this time the reason was somewhat more fundamental, coupled with a solid dose of technicals: Avis shares soared over 100% to a record high on Tuesday, triggering at least two trading halts, after the car-rental company’s third-quarter results topped expectations, helped by strong demand. The fact that CAR had the most shorts (as a % of float) in over a year certainly did not slow the exponential surge higher. Still, analysts were split over their future performance with Morgan Stanley saying high margins cannot be maintained longer term while JPMorgan noted that the strong conditions in the rental car industry can be expected to last for some time.   Morgan Stanley analyst Billy Kovanis (underweight, PT $140 from $110) said Avis delivered against very high expectations in 3Q, hitting a record high Ebitda margin; that said, the analyst continues to believe that 2021/2022 will mark the cyclical peak and doesn’t see Avis maintaining the current margin profile in the long term. On the other hand, JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman (overweight) said the record results came as revenue rose, driven by both surging Revenue per Day (RPD), which reached record highs in both the Americas and International segments, as well as steadily recovering transaction days. He noted that Avis shares fell sharply after reporting a similar size beat to 2Q expectations, prompting an investor concern of peaking performance. According to Brinkman, while the 3Q beat may feel similar, JPMorgan estimates it is different, as a great deal of evidence has piled up in the time since 2Q results to suggest that above average normal conditions in the rental car industry are likely to persist for some time FInally, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka (hold) said that if any weakness ultimately unfolds in the shares, would view it as likely profit taking from investors with a “this is as good as it gets” point of view. Despite their opinions, none of the analysts could explain today's move which likely was precipitated by a solid burst in short covering, as CAR was the stock that many traders used as a pair trade to HTZ, and which is now being unwound. Tyler Durden Tue, 11/02/2021 - 13:55.....»»

Stunning Avis Rally Pushes Sends Shares Up As Much As 200%, Sends It To Top Of Russell 2000 Update (11:10AM ET): The relentless AVIS rally just won't stop, and at last check, AVIS was up as much as 200%, sending its market cap to $27.7BN, higher than that of AMC, and to the very top of the Russell 2000! * * * Our first reaction when seeing the exponential move higher in shares of rental car operator Avid Budget Group (whose ticker is CAR yet the company is hardly a "car company") was whether they, too, had ordered a few hundred thousand Teslas in the latest cross-marketing gimmick. *AVIS BUDGET TRADING PAUSED AFTER SHARES SPIKE 36% How many teslas are they ordering? — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 2, 2021 Turns out this time the reason was somewhat more fundamental, coupled with a solid dose of technicals: Avis shares soared over 100% to a record high on Tuesday, triggering at least two trading halts, after the car-rental company’s third-quarter results topped expectations, helped by strong demand. The fact that CAR had the most shorts (as a % of float) in over a year certainly did not slow the exponential surge higher. Still, analysts were split over their future performance with Morgan Stanley saying high margins cannot be maintained longer term while JPMorgan noted that the strong conditions in the rental car industry can be expected to last for some time.   Morgan Stanley analyst Billy Kovanis (underweight, PT $140 from $110) said Avis delivered against very high expectations in 3Q, hitting a record high Ebitda margin; that said, the analyst continues to believe that 2021/2022 will mark the cyclical peak and doesn’t see Avis maintaining the current margin profile in the long term. On the other hand, JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman (overweight) said the record results came as revenue rose, driven by both surging Revenue per Day (RPD), which reached record highs in both the Americas and International segments, as well as steadily recovering transaction days. He noted that Avis shares fell sharply after reporting a similar size beat to 2Q expectations, prompting an investor concern of peaking performance. According to Brinkman, while the 3Q beat may feel similar, JPMorgan estimates it is different, as a great deal of evidence has piled up in the time since 2Q results to suggest that above average normal conditions in the rental car industry are likely to persist for some time FInally, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka (hold) said that if any weakness ultimately unfolds in the shares, would view it as likely profit taking from investors with a “this is as good as it gets” point of view. Despite their opinions, none of the analysts could explain today's move which likely was precipitated by a solid burst in short covering, as CAR was the stock that many traders used as a pair trade to HTZ, and which is now being unwound. Tyler Durden Tue, 11/02/2021 - 11:10.....»»

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