CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday called Tesla a buy following its latest earnings and what Elon Musk said on the call. “As someone who is looking at all the other technologies, I would be a buyer of Tesla today,” Cramer said on ” Squawk on the Street .” He argued that investors focused on near-term concerns are missing Tesla’s long-term potential. The electric vehicle maker reported mixed results Wednesday evening, posting first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 41 cents versus estimates of 37 cents. Revenue of $22.39 billionm, however, came in slightly below estimates of $22.64 billion. Shares fell almost 4% on Thursday as investors reacted to rising capital expenditures and a potentially slower rollout of key initiatives like robotaxis and full self-driving. Cramer said the tone of Musk’s commentary on the call reinforced his bullish view, pointing to the Tesla CEO’s continued emphasis on long-term innovation, particularly around artificial intelligence and robotics. Cramer highlighted Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, which Musk has previously said could become the company’s most important product. “This is why you own it,” Cramer said, noting that Musk “thinks so much bigger than everyone,” except maybe for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and is focused on building transformative technologies rather than optimizing for near-term results. With ongoing speculation about closer ties between Tesla and SpaceX, which is expected to pursue an initial public offering later this year, owning shares of the EV maker increasingly represents a broader bet on Musk’s wider ecosystem of companies. Last month, SpaceX bought Musk’s xAI startup, which also houses the Grok chatbot and X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk acknowledged that Tesla will “substantially” increase capital expenditures, a move that appeared to unsettle investors concerned about profitability and free cash flow. But Cramer framed such spending as a strategic investment. The market’s negative reaction also reflected skepticism about the timing of autonomous vehicles, with Musk indicating that fully unsupervised capabilities may not arrive until later this year. Cramer said that focus misses the forest for the trees. “[Musk] thinks so big that you almost think … sometime in the next 20 years, if I buy this stock, I’m going to be rich.”
