Tesla’s stock (TSLA) has been taking a beating lately and it isn’t getting a break today as a Wedbush analyst is out with a new negative note on Tesla – sending the stock down to new lows it hasn’t seen since 2016.
Furthermore, the market is still reeling from the trade war situation and Tesla is particularly vulnerable.
TSLA Analysts
Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst covering Tesla and the auto industry, released a new note to clients about Tesla today in which he cites demand concerns.
He writes:
“We continue to have major concerns around the trajectory of Tesla’s growth prospects and underlying demand on Model 3 in the US over the coming quarters which is putting more heat in the kitchen on Musk & Tesla to reign in expenses at an accelerated rate with profitability targets in 2H19 a Kilimanjaro-like uphill climb,”
The comment about Musk and Tesla having to “reign in expenses” is a reference to an email released by Electrek in which CEO Elon Musk announced a new “hardcore” cost-cutting effort at the automaker last week.
Tesla focus
Furthermore, Ives believes that Musk has Tesla involved in too many projects at the moment and they should focus on their core business of selling the Model 3.
He added in the note to clients today:
“Additionally, with a code red situation at Tesla, Musk & Co. are expanding into insurance, robotaxis, and other sci-fi projects/endeavors when the company instead should be laser focused on shoring up core demand for Model 3 and simplifying its business model and expense structure in our opinion with headwinds abound,”
Ives dropped Wedbush’s rating on Tesla with a target price of $230 (down from $275).
At the time of writing, the stock was down more than 4% to $201 per share in pre-market trading. The broader market is also down sharply today – partly due to the uncertain trade war that is ongoing.
Dan Ives is ranked #593 out of 5,184 analysts on TipRank with a 59% success rate and an average return of 6.7%. He has mostly been recommending to buy Tesla’s stock until recently:
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