Tesla (TSLA) CEO Criticized for Fatal Car Crash Tweet on CNBC

Tesla (TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk was out of line for tweeting that the fatal autopilot car crash 'wasn't material' yesterday, CNBC's Joe Kernen said Wednesday.
By Lindsay Rittenhouse ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Get Report  are slipping by 1.95% to $209.80 early Wednesday morning, after the auto developer announced yesterday that it waited nine days to alert regulators that a driver fatally crashed his car, while using the company's autopilot function.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter (TWTR) after this development was initially reported, saying that the May accident "wasn't material."

"You can't say something is not material to the stock. It's not his position to say that," CNBC's Joe Kernen commented on "Squawk Box" this morning.

Tesla stock did decline after the crash was first reported last week.

"Maybe he meant that it was not material to the finances of the company but I don't think he can really say that either, because you don't know how things play out over time," Kernen argued.

When former Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs first found out he had pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment, the tech giant argued that him being away from the company would not be "material" to the stock. However, it turned out Jobs had a huge impact on the company's and stock's performance, Kernen noted.

In addition, another driver announced on Tuesday night that his Tesla Model X flipped on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on July 1 while in autopilot. That driver and passenger survived, the Huffington Post reported.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Tesla Motors as a "sell" with a score of D+.

This is driven by some concerns, which can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: TSLA

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

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