Duan Yongping: I don't want to be friends with Musk, but investing in Tesla is still possible

Being friends is one thing, investing is another.

In a recent interview, Duan Yongping publicly stated, "Investing in Tesla is actually being friends with Musk, and I don't want to be friends with him." However, before he finished speaking, he also publicly stated that he bought Tesla stock. In response, Duan Yongping said, "You can invest without being friends."

Duan Yongping Buys Tesla

On November 20, Duan Yongping publicly posted on Xueqiu, saying: "Recently, I finally spent more time looking at a lot of Musk's things. Faced with so many of his impressive products, I started to invest a bit in Tesla last week and this week. Satisfied? In recent years, I have indeed felt Musk's greatness, and I understand his first principles very well. You can invest without being friends, anyway, he doesn't play ball. Just treat it as venture capital; I think looking back in 10 years, this investment may be right."

A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and netizens discussed this matter extensively. In response to some netizens' inquiries, Duan Yongping also replied: "It's not a joke; I'm serious."

Another netizen asked whether Duan Yongping directly purchased stocks or sold puts. Duan Yongping stated: "I sold puts; I may continue to sell unless I change my mind again and again. Currently, I mainly sell short-term puts because the annualized return is relatively high (I think it probably won't just skyrocket). The most important thing when I sell puts is to think: Is this price cheap when I look back in 10 years? If the answer is not cheap, then this put cannot be sold."

It is worth mentioning that in a recent conversation with Xueqiu founder Fang Sanwen, Duan Yongping talked about his views on Tesla.

He stated: "Musk is impressive; he has many ideas and is indeed very advanced. However, I think investing is quite difficult. From a personal perspective, I don't really like this person's character. When you invest, you are actually being friends with him, and I don't want to be friends with him, even if you give me money, I won't do it. So I don't like this matter that much, but I recognize that he is indeed impressive."

When discussing Tesla, Duan Yongping stated that the electric vehicle business won't be too good and will be very tiring, as it has little differentiation. However, Tesla's electric vehicles have achieved differentiation.

He bluntly said: "Now I don't know how many companies are making electric vehicles, just like when we were making game consoles back then, there might be hundreds of them, and in the end, only a few will survive. Those few will be profitable, but those hundreds will go bankrupt. So I can be sure that most of the electric vehicles you see now will die; I don't know who will survive."

What are the opportunities in the new energy market?

Not only has Duan Yongping changed his attitude towards Tesla. Recently, the domestic market's attitude towards the new energy sector has also changed.

After years of adjustment, the new energy sector has finally turned around. In just two to three months, multiple new energy-themed ETFs have risen by more than 40%.

The subsequent opportunities in the new energy sector have become the current market's focus. Wang Hengnan, a manager at Nord Fund, expressed the view that the current A-share market shows distinct characteristics of a phase-specific structured market, with funds rotating around high-prosperity tracks, resulting in overall high activity. Among them, the internal hotspots of the new energy vehicle industry chain are frequently rotating, from battery materials to intelligent components, with technological iterations and peak season demand jointly driving the sector's alternating strength, potentially revealing structural opportunities.

In the view of ICBC Credit Suisse Fund, the current trend of solid-state battery industry is determined, with leading companies adopting a no-anode endgame route that has shown good results, and industrialization progress exceeding expectations. The rapid development of solid-state batteries is expected to bring a comprehensive update to the lithium battery industry chain and a significant increase in equipment value, with investment opportunities likely emerging in related industry chain segments such as batteries, equipment, and materials. Specifically, attention can be paid to the latest changes in equipment such as isostatic pressing equipment, as well as related segments in materials like lithium sulfide, lithium iodide, and no-anode current collectors. In the battery segment, leading companies are putting new production capacity into operation and adopting stable pricing strategies to capture market share.

"After deep adjustments, the prices and profits of various segments in the new energy sector are at low levels. Under the combined influence of market factors and 'anti-involution' policies, positive changes are beginning to appear on the supply side," said Zhao Yi, manager of QuanGuo Fund, in a previous interview with Shanghai Securities Journal. "'Anti-involution' has created a favorable policy environment for the new energy sector, alleviating industry price deflation and accelerating supply-demand improvement, but fundamentally, it still depends on the performance of the demand side. Only in industries with sustained strong demand can greater investment opportunities arise."

From the recent capital flow perspective, according to Choice's calculations, multiple new energy-themed ETFs have attracted inflows. Specifically, since the fourth quarter, as of November 19, the net subscription amount for the Huatai-PineBridge CSI Battery Theme ETF was CNY 1.696 billion, the net subscription amount for the E Fund National Certificate New Energy Battery ETF was CNY 1.558 billion, and the net subscription amount for the GF National Certificate New Energy Vehicle Battery ETF also exceeded CNY 1 billion.

Risk warning and disclaimer

The market has risks, and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account individual users' specific investment goals, financial conditions, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their specific circumstances. Investing based on this is at one's own risk