Tesla updates on capex spending, Autopilot probe and Bitcoin

Tesla ( NASDAQ: TSLA ) issued a SEC filing with various nuggets related to its Q4 earnings report and state of the business. The electric vehicle maker confirmed in the filing that it is cooperating with a Department of Justice investigation over Autopilot and its features. The automaker said it has received requests from the DOJ for documents related to Autopilot. Tesla said it cannot predict the outcome or impact of the investigation. On the financial front, Tesla ( TSLA ) forecasts capital expenditures of $6B to $8B this year vs. $7.5B consensus. TSLA reminded that it is simultaneously ramping new products, ramping manufacturing facilities on three continents and piloting the development and manufacture of new battery cell technologies, and warned the pace of capital spending may vary depending on overall priority among projects and other factors. Looking further ahead, capital expenditure spending of $7B to $9B is anticipated for 2024 and 2025. That all compares to capex spending of $7.16B in 2022 and $6.48B in 2021. "Sustained growth has allowed our business to generally fund itself, and we will continue investing in a number of capital-intensive projects in upcoming periods," noted Tesla. Tesla ( TSLA ) took a $204M Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) impairment loss in 2022, while booking a $64M from converting some crypto to cash. Tesla ( TSLA ) originally invested $1.5B in Bitcoin in Q1 of 2021. Tesla ( TSLA ) said that as with any investment and consistent with how it manages fiat-based cash and cash-equivalent accounts, the company may increase or decrease holdings of digital assets at any time based on the needs of the business and the view of the market and environmental conditions. Dig further into the Tesla 10-K. Shares of Tesla ( TSLA ) slipped 0.95% premarket to Tuesday to $165.10. Read the latest breakkdowns on Tesla from Seeking Alpha authors.