It also didn’t help that the prototype that humans helped onto the stage late last week looked a bit primitive. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas went into the event with an open mind, writing in a note last week that he was looking forward to seeing whether Optimus had the potential to save Tesla significant manufacturing costs, create a new revenue stream, or both.
Ryan Brinkman of JPMorgan Chase was similarly unimpressed, describing Tesla’s Optimus as similar in capability to Asimo, the robot Honda first unveiled 22 years ago. “As of now we see little reason to value Tesla fundamentally differently as a result of this seemingly still skunkworks project that’s unlikely in our estimation to result in revenues for many years to come,” Brinkman wrote in a report.
Skunkworks may hold enormous appeal for some young engineers in the field who are eager to work for Musk. But when explaining back in January why the Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster weren’t coming until 2023 at the earliest, the CEO said then that Tesla
This guy hasn’t even mastered how to use a condom! 10 children!