Often times in investing there are two competing stories,  the glass is half full, the other is the glass is half empty. Until the glass either gets to 3/4s full or 1/4 full, many people do not really know what to do. A week ago the shares of Tesla Motors fell from $270 to $242 because of worries about production cutbacks of its biggest selling electric car. The Tesla is an electric car which besides being more expensive than the average car needs a great deal of infrastructure for people to drive more than 300 miles. After 350 miles it needs to be charged, having never been in one but seen them, the cars look good and drive with little interior noise.Part of the company’s growth is tied to a new electric battery plant being built in Nevada.

In a column in the Globe written by Chris Umiastowski called “Don’t slam the brakes on Tesla just yet”, the article offers the half full idea for the company. Chris expects the price of the shares to fall but over the longer term to go higher after each fall. He particularly pays attention to the management team, if it doing what they say they are doing then you can continue to back them, but if they begin to depart then situations change. The issues for the growth investor are why did you buy the shares? are the reasons still valid?

Linking to dividend paying companies, the process is easier than trying to figure out the potential market, the big question is the company still profitable to pay the dividend? if the answer is no then you know when to find alternatives. If the answer is yes, then you can either do nothing or determine at what point would they not be able to be profitable. As dividend buyers the issue is the company’s profits almost similar to a monopoly or very few competitors and the ability to affect prices?  If that is still the case, whether the company grows or stays similar size is not important, staying profitable is.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.