Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Tesla has long been the quintessential battleground stock, a polarizing name among analysts and investors alike. It's a pioneer in the electric-vehicle space, led by a controversial CEO who is mired in a legal battle and garners as much love as he does ire.
And its volatile stock price reflects that.
Tesla has fallen 18% this year, to $273.02 a share, closing modestly lower on Monday after analysts at Morgan Stanley and UBS cut their price targets. In January, shares soared as high as $351.50 before plunging after the company said it would lay off around 7% of its workforce.
Put another way, shares are off about 27% from their December peak following the "largest q/q sales drop-off ever reported, announced price cuts, & an under-whelming reaction to the Model Y reveal," UBS analyst Colin Langan told clients on Monday.
Advertisement
"Given the volatility, we are vigilant for the next positive catalyst; however we don't see one near term," Langan added, days after Tesla's first-quarter delivery results fell short of expectations.
Morgan Stanley, for its part, cut its price target for the third time in as many months.
"The fundamental narrative around Tesla appears more clouded than we have seen in several years," analyst Adam Jonas wrote. "Signs of weakening demand have raised long-standing questions about the company's ability to fund itself as an independent company."
But those are just two outlooks. Here's where some of the other widely followed Tesla analysts stand on the stock, complete with their price targets, investment ratings, and some notable quotes from their latest investor notes.
"The fundamental narrative around Tesla appears more clouded than we have seen in several years. Signs of weakening demand have raised long-standing questions about the company’s ability to fund itself as an independent company," Jonas said on Monday.
Ryan Brinkman
Firm: JPMorgan
Price target: $200
Rating: Underweight
"The now clear incongruence of CEO outlook statements with official company guidance may hurt the perception of management commentary, eroding investor confidence and potentially placing additional pressures on the shares," Brinkman said in report dated April 4.
Itay Michaeli
Firm: Citi
Price target: $273
Rating: Sell/High Risk
"Though Tesla bulls might look past the Q1 Model 3 miss (also given recent intro of $35k version), the S/X numbers will likely spark some legitimate demand & company margin concerns, particularly given the risk for some incremental cannibalization from the recently introduced Model Y," Michaeli wrote in a note to clients on April 4.
Ben Kallo
Firm: Baird
Price target: $465
Rating: Outperform
"The Model S and Model X are luxury electric vehicles with significantly more range than many of their competitors," Kallo wrote in a note to clients last week.
David Tamberrino
Firm: Goldman Sachs
Price target: $210
Rating: Sell
"While we believe TSLA has developed a lead relative to OEM peers with respect to electric vehicle technology, we believe its operational execution has been more challenged and see its competitive lead waning as other companies launch more models and EV incentives phase out for TSLA ahead of that competition," Tamberrino wrote in a note dated April 4.
Joseph Spak
Firm: RBC Capital Markets
Price target: $210
Rating: Underperform
"Tesla reported total 1Q19 deliveries of 63k, 31% below 4Q18 levels and versus RBC/FactSet consensus of 71.7k/76k," Spak wrote in a note to clients last week. "We believe the results are disappointing across the board and estimate that this could potentially translate into a ~$1bn+ revenue miss."
Philippe Houchois
Firm: Jefferies
Price target: $450
Rating: Buy
"Tesla reported 63k vehicles delivered and 77.1k produced, 12% and 8% below JEFe respectively," he wrote in a note last week. "The miss is on S/X, which disproportionately hurt profitability."
Colin Langan
Firm: UBS
Price target: $200
Rating: Sell
"Given the volatility, we are vigilant for the next positive catalyst; however we don't see one near term," he told clients on Monday. "While growth may reaccelerate in Q2, we forecast it will still fall short of guidance & consensus."
Colin Rusch
Firm: Oppenheimer
Price target: $437
Rating: Outperform
"We anticipate bulls will look through 1Q19 weak deliveries, pointing to weak global auto demand and a reiteration of FY19 guidance," Rusch told clients last week. "We maintain our positive bias, waiting for full financials when the company reports later this month."
Dan Ives
Firm: Wedbush
Price target: $365
Rating: Outperform
"We maintain our OUTPERFORM rating as we still firmly believe in our long term Tesla demand EV thesis despite this near-term turbulence, however we are lowering our price target from $390 to $365 to reflect lower deliveries and a higher chance of capital raise now on the horizon," he told clients last week.
