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 The earnings report started optimistically enough, with Elon Musk forecasting an end to Tesla Inc.’s cash-burning days after blazing through another $1 billion last quarter. 
 
 But by the end of Tesla’s first-quarter conference call, Musk was berating analysts for asking “boring” questions, and any shred of predictability was out the window. Investors cringed, sending the stock down as much as 7.4 percent to $279 in early trading Thursday. 
 
 A Tesla Model 3 at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg 
 
 Musk, 46, has built up a showman’s reputation as the founder and chief executive officer of Tesla, calling on true believers to help him overcome the “haters” who question his company’s ability to usher in an electric-vehicle age on an ambitious timetable. His performance Wednesday revealed his willingness to bite the hand that feeds, ridiculing representatives of Wall Street’s biggest banks who tried to pinpoint how he’d live up to his promises to build more Model 3 sedans and generate cash in the second half of the year. 
 
 Musk cut off analysts’ queries about the company’s capital requirements and whether it was retaining Model 3 reservation holders, calling the questions “so dry” and “not cool.” 
 
 “The boring questions can also be categorized as the tough ones,” said Dave Sullivan, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc. “I hope the Tesla fans know how to swim, because without the answers to the tough questions, it looks like Musk is leading them straight into the water.” 
 
 The often-colorful Musk unveiled what he portrayed as Tesla’s first mass-market car more than two years ago but has pushed back Model 3 manufacturing targets several times. Slow output has limited the amount of money coming in from customers taking delivery and tested Tesla’s balance sheet. 
 
 Prospective patrons have showed patience -- there are still more than 450,000 reservation holders waiting, and customer deposits keep rising, approaching almost $1 billion as of March 31. 
 
 Putting Down More Money Tesla keeps receiving more payments from prospective purchasers Source: Company filings, Bloomberg data 
 
 When Joe Spak, an RBC Capital Markets analyst who rates Tesla the equivalent of a hold, asked Musk how many Model 3 reservation holders were actually taking the step to configure their car when invited to do so, a pause followed. 
 
 “We’re going to YouTube,” Musk said, referring to the owner of a channel on the video-streaming service who had lobbied the CEO ahead of time for the chance to ask questions on behalf of retail investors. 
 
 “Sorry,” Musk said, “these questions are so dry. They’re killing me.” 
 
 Elon Musk’s Most Dumbfounding Moments on Tesla’s Earnings Call 
 
 Tesla’s balance sheet also was a sore subject for Musk. While Tesla expressed confidence about the second half of the year, negative free cash flow was more than $1 billion for the third time in the last four quarters. The result was also worse than analysts’ average estimate for cash burn of about $978 million. 
 
 Tesla's Cash Flow The electric-car maker went through more than $1 billion again in the first quarter Source: Company filings, Bloomberg data 
 
 Tesla had $2.67 billion in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter, down from the $3.37 billion at the end of last year. Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford C. Bernstein, who rates the company the equivalent of a hold, bore the brunt of Musk’s sharpest words after asking about capital requirements. 
 
 “Excuse me. Next. Next,” Musk said to the call operator. “Boring, bonehead questions are not cool. Next?” 
 
 Manufacturing Reset 
 
 Model 3 production probably will pause for about 10 days this quarter, an estimated duration that includes a shutdown last month to address bottlenecks. While Tesla’s battery module line was the main issue plaguing output for months, that’s been resolved, according to the company. Musk now expects to be able to make 5,000 cars’ worth a week before installing an automation system from its German manufacturing unit Grohmann. 
 
 On the call, Musk said Tesla is poised to surpass all rivals in manufacturing. 
 
 “A really great production system is primarily a software problem, and there’s no one in the auto industry that is remotely as good as Tesla at software,” he said. “Tesla is way better at software than any other car company.” 
 
 — With assistance by Brian Eckhouse, Matthew Burgess, David Welch, Gabrielle Coppola, and Esha Dey 

 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ducking analysts’ questions has a price: $2 billion. 
 
 Tesla Inc investors gave a rare rebuke to iconoclastic Chief Executive Elon Musk on Wednesday after he cut off analysts asking about profit potential, sending shares down 5 percent despite promises that production of the troubled Model 3 electric car was on track. 
 
 Tesla’s future depends on the Model 3 and the company said that it had largely overcome production bottlenecks, with Musk vowing a dramatic turnaround that would reverse losses and generate positive cash flow in just a few months. 
 
 Musk plans to shut down its Fremont, California factory for 10 days in the second quarter but said Tesla will meet the production target of 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of June, as planned, and will turn a profit in the second half of the year. 
 
 To achieve profitability, Musk will have to reverse what today amounts to a $22,584 pre-tax loss per vehicle built by the Silicon Valley company. Tesla posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss when it announced first-quarter results on Wednesday. 
 
 Tesla stock was little changed after the earnings announcement but fell during a conference call, when Musk began cutting analysts’ questions short, costing Tesla over $2 billion in market capitalization. 
 
 “These questions are so dry. They’re killing me,” Musk said after an analyst asked what percentage of Tesla 3 reservation holders have started to configure options for their cars, an indicator of how much profit Tesla will be able to wring from the vehicles. Another analyst asked about a capital requirement before being cut off. 
 
 He then took several questions in a row about plans for a self-driving car network and other long-term projects from the host of a YouTube channel focused on investing, praising the questions as not boring. 
 
 5,000 MODEL 3s PER WEEK 
 
 Musk’s ability to run Tesla is crucial as the company strives to efficiently and profitably build its first vehicle intended to be produced at high volume, the Model 3. 
 
 Musk acknowledged error recently in over-automating the Model 3 assembly-line, which has resulted in production delays, but it is still unclear how long and costly it will be to unwind this mistake. 
 
 Delayed Model 3 production also comes as a slew of competitors bring new electric vehicle models to market. 
 
 The company stood by a previously announced target of building 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of June. 
 
 Tesla's capital expenditures declined in the quarter and the company cut its spending forecasts for 2018, saying it would spend less than $3 billion. Tesla spent $3.4 billion in 2017. (bit.ly/2jn15SB) 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk introduces one of the first Model 3 cars off the Fremont factory's production line during an event at the company's facilities in Fremont, California, U.S., July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Alexandria Sage/File Photo 
 
 Investing.com analyst Clement Thibault said the reduction was noteworthy, “but in the long run given challenges that lay ahead of Tesla, I don’t think it is going to make or break the company.” 
 
 Tesla “is definitely not in a minimizing cost stage,” Thibault said. 
 
 Free cash flow, a key metric of financial health, widened to negative $1 billion in the first quarter from negative $277 million in the fourth quarter, excluding costs of systems for its solar business. Analysts had not expected so much spending, predicting hundreds of millions of dollars less in so-called cash burn, according to Thomson Reuters data. 
 
 Tesla did not break out a cash flow calculation that it had included in previous quarters. 
 
 The niche carmaker, which two years ago vowed to build 500,000 vehicles annually in 2018, has attracted legions of fans for its advanced technology and design. But the company rushed its Model 3 to market, making mistakes in manufacturing whose effects are now being felt, and investor skepticism has risen. 
 
 Questions over Tesla’s finances are top of mind, and many analysts anticipate a capital raise in 2018 despite Musk’s statements that it will not be necessary due to profitability and positive cash flow in the third or fourth quarters. 
 
 Tesla said gross margins on the Model 3, which today are slightly negative, would be close to flat in the second quarter and grow to “highly positive” in the second half of the year. 
 
 Tesla said it produced 2,270 Model 3s per week in the last week of April. It said net reservations for the Model 3, including configured orders not yet delivered, exceeded 450,000 at the end of the first quarter. 
 
 Automotive revenue rose only 1 percent from the prior quarter to $2.74 billion. 
 
 RECORD LOSS 
 
 Tesla reported a record loss of $709.6 million, or $4.19 per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $330.3 million, or $2.04 per share, a year earlier. 
 
 Excluding items, Tesla had a loss of $3.35 per share. Analysts had expected a loss of $3.58 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 
 
 The company said it ended the quarter with $3.2 billion in cash after spending $655.7 million in quarterly capital expenses. 
 
 The lack of Model 3 revenue has exacerbated Tesla’s cash burn as the company continues to spend on its assembly line and prepares for new investments on multiple projects in the pipeline, such as the Model Y crossover and its Gigafactory. 
 
 Slideshow (2 Images) 
 
 The Model Y is just one of many projects in the pipeline for Tesla, which also launched a Tesla Semi and a new Roadster in recent months. 
 
 (This version corrects Model 3 production target In paragraph 4, to 5,000/week, not per day) 

 Earnings calls are typically a pretty dull affair in which analysts get to ask questions about the company's business and performance. But not for Elon Musk. 
 
 The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) hosted the company's latest earnings call Wednesday in which he brushed analysts off, told them their questions were boring, and spent a significant amount of time fielding questions from a guy with a YouTube channel. 
 
 Musk is known for his quirks, but investors appeared to be put off. Tesla shares were down nearly 5% during after-hours trading, despite posting better-than-expected earnings results. 
 
 Here are the five strangest moments from the call. 
 
 1. 'Excuse me. Next. ' 
 
 Part way through the Q&A session, an analyst from Bernstein was in a back-and-forth with Deepak Ahuja, Tesla's chief financial officer, about capital expenditures. 
 
 But Musk interrupted. 
 
 "Excuse me. Next. Boring, bonehead questions are not cool. Next?" he said. 
 
 2. 'We're gonna go to YouTube' 
 
 After the awkward dressing down of one analyst, Musk quickly shut down the next guy. 
 
 An analyst from RBC Capital Markets posed a question about reservations for the Model 3, Tesla's first mass-market car that's proven wildly popular but has been plagued by production issues. 
 
 But after a long pause, Musk refused to answer. 
 
 "We're gonna go to YouTube. Sorry. These questions are so dry. They're killing me," he said. 
 
 What exactly Musk meant by "go to YouTube" wasn't at all clear. But then the floor was given to Galileo Russell, host of the "HyperChange TV" YouTube channel, which has more than 9,000 subscribers. 
 
 Russell's videos include one titled "Why I Bought Tesla Today At $255/Share." 
 
 On Tuesday, he posted a video titled: "Crowdsourcing A Question For The Tesla Earnings Call!" A few days earlier, Russell tweeted at Musk, asking him to "give retail investors a voice." Musk responded, "Ok." 
 
 3. YouTuber asks a dozen questions 
 
 Egged on by Musk, Russell asked about a dozen questions on Wednesday's call. His conversation with Musk and the other Tesla executives lasted more than 20 minutes. 
 
 Among the topics they discussed: 
 
 — Tesla's self-driving ride-sharing efforts. Musk said Tesla is "well positioned" to have "millions, really tens of millions" of shared autonomous electric vehicles on the road. When it'll come on the market depends on regulatory approval. But Musk says the tech will be fully developed "by end of next year." 
 
 — The Model Y. Musk said he expects production of Tesla's yet-to-be-unveiled crossover Model Y to begin in "early 2020" and it won't be built in the Fremont factory. 
 
 "Thanks for the great questions," Musk said at the end of their exchange. 
 
 4. 'Incredibly irresponsible' 
 
 Musk has gone on similar tirades about the press in the past, and on Wednesday he admonished journalists who have covered Tesla crashes in which the vehicle had the Autopilot feature engaged. 
 
 "It's really incredibly irresponsible of any journalists with integrity to write an article that would lead people to believe that autonomy is less safe," Musk said, according to a rough transcript of the call. "Because people might actually turn it off, and then die." 
 
 "So, anyway, I'm very upset by this," he added 
 
 Related: Tesla burns through $700 million, but says production is now on track 
 
 Tesla's Autopilot feature is not fully autonomous. It handles some driving functions, but not all, and drivers are expected to stay engaged when the feature is activated. A government report from January 2017, which has been widely criticized, found that Autopilot reduced crash rates for Tesla by 40%. 
 
 5. 'Moats are lame' 
 
 Russel, the YouTuber, asked why Musk would want to allow other car brands to use Tesla's Supercharger stations, which the company has installed all over the country. 
 
 "I'm just wondering why that isn't a moat," he said, according to the rough transcript. "The charging infrastructure you guys have built would take years and millions of dollars for another brand to replicate, so I'm just curious about the strategic thinking behind opening that up versus keeping it closed." 
 
 Musk responded, "I think moats are lame." 
 
 "If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long," he said. 
 
 Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the YouTube channel Galileo Russell hosts. 

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 Shares in Tesla took a nosedive in after-hours trading today as Elon Musk cut off analysts during a first-quarter earnings call. He dismissed a question about gross margins from Bernstein senior analyst Toni Sacconaghi as "boring." Instead, Musk and other executives answered multiple questions from a Tesla enthusiast and Youtuber named Gali Russell. 
 
 The 25-year-old retail investor tweeted at Elon Musk on Monday, seeking to ask him a "crowdsourced" question during Wednesday's conference call. Instead of a single question, Russell was able to ask several. 
 
 The stock drop may have become apparent around the time when Musk cut off analysts on the call. However, the company's first-quarter update has also stoked concerns over Tesla's cash burn and how, exactly, it will improve margins while ramping Model 3 production. 
 
 On the first-quarter call, CEO Elon Musk also promised a "reorganization" this month. He said: 
 
 "I'm feeling quite confident about hitting positive cash flow in Q3. This is not a certainty. It does appear quite likely in my view. We are going to conduct a reorganization, restructuring of the company this month and make sure we are well set up to achieve that goal. In particular the number of third-party companies we're using has gotten out of control. We're going to scrub the barnacles on that front."
– Tesla's share price took a major hit Wednesday after CEO Elon Musk decided he didn't want to spend a conference call on the company's earning report dealing with a lot of dull questions from analysts. Musk interrupted a back-and-forth between a Bernstein analyst and Tesla Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja about capital expenditures to say: "Excuse me. Next. Boring, bonehead questions are not cool," CNNMoney reports. Musk gave up after the next analyst, Joe Spak from RBC Capital Markets, asked whether Model 3 reservation holders had taken steps to configure their cars. "We're gonna go to YouTube. Sorry. These questions are so dry. They're killing me," the CEO said, per Reuters. Over the next 20 minutes, Musk took a dozen questions from Gali Russell, a Tesla enthusiast and owner of the HyperChange TV YouTube channel. "Thanks for the great questions," Musk said after fielding queries on issues including Model Y production and plans for a self-driving car network. Investors were not impressed: CNBC reports that Tesla shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading, costing the company around $2 billion in market capitalization. The company posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss Wednesday. "The boring questions can also be categorized as the tough ones," AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan tells Bloomberg. "I hope the Tesla fans know how to swim, because without the answers to the tough questions, it looks like Musk is leading them straight into the water."