As one of the leading innovators in the electric vehicle space, automaker Tesla gets a lot of media attention. It has cultivated a loyal following of customers who believe in the company’s technology and often praise CEO Elon Musk with loyalty. It’s one of Silicon Valley’s best-known tech companies, and investors have enjoyed the stock’s rapid rise over the past decade, especially during the global pandemic.
Tesla recently announced that it would require shareholders to agree to an increase in the number of authorized shares to allow it to split its shares in the form of stock dividends. Shareholders will vote on the matter at Tesla’s annual meeting, which usually takes place in the fall. A stock split increases the number of shares an investor holds, but lowers the share price, leaving the company’s overall value the same.
If you’re considering buying Tesla stock, here’s how and what you need to know before you decide.
1. Analyze Tesla and its financials
Analyzing a company’s competitive position and financials can be the hardest part of buying Tesla stocks, but it’s also the most important. The best place to start is the company’s Form 10-K, which is the annual report that all public companies must file with the SEC.
10-K 表可以帮助您了解很多有关公司的信息：
- 它如何赚钱以及赚多少钱
- 资产及负债
- 随着时间的推移，它会提高盈利能力
- 竞争格局
- 公司面临的各类风险
- 管理团队以及如何激励他们
An annual report is an important first step to learning more about your company, but you want to do more than that. You should research what other companies are doing to compete. It is important to have a broader view of the industry.
For example, while Tesla is best known for its electric vehicles and self-driving technology, it’s not the only company trying to grab a piece of the growing market. Rivian Automotive, Lucid Motors and China’s NIO are all looking to compete with Tesla in the electric car market, and Alphabet’s Waymo unit is developing self-driving cars.
Traditional automakers such as General Motors and Ford are also shifting their focus to hybrid and all-electric vehicles. There are many players due to the huge opportunity, but the market situation in 5-10 years is hard to predict.
2. Does Tesla make sense in your portfolio?
Since the current electric vehicle market is smaller than traditional cars, Tesla may have fewer options today than it does tomorrow. Despite strong sales growth in recent years, the company was in the red from 2016 to 2019. Even though it posted a record $5.5 billion gain in 2021 and had a total market capitalization of more than $1 trillion as of March 2022, investors are still betting on a lot of growth ahead.
因此你应该问自己以下问题：
- 您了解该业务及其未来前景吗？
- 随着您的业务和行业的发展，您能继续对其进行分析吗？
- Given the volatility of the stock, can you hold or even buy more if it goes down?
- Do you understand the value of the company and how it compares to current market value?
- Tesla Doesn’t Pay Dividends – Do Stocks Need Dividends?
3. 您能承受多少投资？
How much you can invest in Tesla has less to do with your personal financial situation. Stocks can be volatile. So, to give your investment time to pay off, you should be able to keep your money in stocks for at least three to five years. That means you should be able to live without money for at least that long.
Commitment to holding the stock for three to five years is important. You don’t want to have to sell Tesla as it nears a bottom, only to see it bounce higher after you exit your position. By sticking to a long-term plan, you can ride out the ups and downs of the stock.
If you invest in individual stocks, you may want to keep the percentage of individual positions between 3% and 5%. That way, you’re not seriously exposed to investments that destroy your portfolio. You can choose a lower percentage than this range if the stock has a higher business risk.
此外，不要只是将一大笔钱投资于股票，还要考虑如何随着时间的推移增加资金。
4. 开立经纪账户
虽然开设经纪账户听起来很困难，但实际上非常简单，您只需大约 15 分钟即可完成所有设置。
您应该选择一家适合您需求的经纪人。您经常交易还是很少交易？您需要高水平的服务或研究吗？成本对您来说是最重要的因素吗？如果您购买少量股票但主要投资于基金，一些经纪商会为这些基金提供专门的免佣金交易。
After opening an account, you should have enough money to buy Tesla stock. But you can do this completely online, and it’s easy.
With Tesla stock priced around $1,000 a share as of March 2022, you may not have enough money to buy an entire share. Several brokerages, including Charles Schwab and Fidelity, have started offering fractional shares to help with this, allowing you to invest as little as a few dollars.
5. Buy Tesla stock
Once you decide to buy Tesla stock and open and fund your brokerage account, you can place your order. When entering your order, please use the company’s ticker symbol – TSLA.
大多数经纪商在每一页的底部都有一张“交易单”，以便您输入订单。在经纪人的订单上，您需要输入股票代码和您能买得起的股票数量，或者如果您购买零股，则输入您想要投资的金额。然后输入订单类型：市价或限价。市价单不管股票当前价格如何都会买入股票，而限价单只有当股票达到您设定的价格时才会执行。
如果您只购买几只股票，最好坚持市价单。即使您现在为市价单支付更多费用，如果股票继续表现良好，也不会对长期表现产生太大影响。
底线
购买股票可能令人兴奋，但成功并非一朝一夕就能实现。投资者应该以长远的眼光看待他们的投资，如果他们相信股票的长期价值，他们应该考虑使用美元平均成本。
通过美元平均成本，投资者会随着时间的推移向其头寸增加一定数量的资金，这在股票下跌时确实有帮助，并允许他们购买更多。高涨的股票有时也会下跌，所以这种策略可以帮助你获得更低的买入价格和更高的总体利润。
