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Investor's Corner

Tesla stock’s Twitter overhang highlighted in Morgan Stanley survey

Credit: Tesla Asia/Twitter

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2 years ago

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Tesla as a company is doing very well, but one would not really see this from looking at TSLA stock’s performance this year. Amidst CEO Elon Musk’s turbulent acquisition of Twitter, Tesla shares have seen a notable dive, with the company losing over $600 billion in the past year. 

Tesla bulls and bears have found common ground in the notion that TSLA stock has suffered this year partly because of Musk’s Twitter acquisition. And as it turns out, institutional investors that were surveyed by Morgan Stanley think the same way, too. 

Morgan Stanley recently released a note highlighting what institutional investors think of Twitter’s effect on Tesla’s stock performance. According to Morgan Stanley’s note, a survey about Tesla’s Twitter overhang was sent to an email distribution list comprised of institutional investors and industry experts. 

There were only two questions that were asked. “How much of Tesla’s recent underperformance o you attribute to the Twitter situation?” and “What impact do you believe Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter will have on Tesla’s business going forward?” The results were very telling. 

Almost 75% of the respondents to Morgan Stanley’s survey noted that Musk’s Twitter acquisition has accounted for at least a significant portion of TSLA’s underperformance. About 40% of the respondents also noted that the Twitter situation has accounted for half or more than half of the weakness that’s been evident in the EV maker’s stock. 

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Apart from this, about 65% of the respondents to Morgan Stanley’s survey noted that Musk’s Twitter takeover would have a negative or slightly negative impact on Tesla’s business moving forward. That being said, 5% of the respondents expected a positive impact from Musk’s Twitter acquisition. 

“As we highlighted in last week’s note, we see the situation at Twitter potentially exposing Tesla to risks along a number of areas including: (a) consumer sentiment/demand, (b) commercial partnerships, (c) government relations/support; and (d) capital markets support. While difficult to quantify, we believe there must be some form of sentiment’ circuit breaker’ around the Twitter situation to calm investor concerns around Tesla,” Morgan Stanley wrote. 

That being said, Morgan Stanley remains optimistic about Tesla. Despite its reservations about Elon Musk’s Twitter overhang, Morgan Stanley still has a $330 per share price target for the EV maker and an “Overweight” rating. Morgan Stanley explained its stance on the EV maker in its note. 

“Tesla is the only name we cover that generates a profit (before incentives) on the sale of EVs. Tesla is the only self-funding pure play EV name we cover and has achieved a unique position to secure supply of the battery metals and related up-stream supply necessary to produce EVs at multi-million-unit scale.

“In a slowing economic environment, we believe Tesla’s ‘gap to competition’ can potentially widen, particularly as EV prices pivot from inflationary to deflationary. The current price offers approximately 80% potential upside to our $330 price target, which is the highest upside to target we have seen from Tesla in over 5 years,” Morgan Stanley wrote. 

Disclosure: I am long Tesla. 

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Shark Tank’s O’Leary roasts Tim Walz over Tesla stock hate session

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3 days ago

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March 21, 2025

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Shark Tank personality and legendary investor Kevin O’Leary roasted former Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz over his comments regarding Tesla shares earlier this week.

Walz, a Minnesota Democrat, said that he recently added Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to his Apple Stocks app so he could watch shares fall as they have encountered plenty of resistance in 2025 so far. He said that anytime he needs a boost, he looks at Tesla shares, which are down 36 percent so far this year:

Walz, among many others, has been critical of Tesla and Elon Musk, especially as the CEO has helped eliminate excess government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

However, Kevin O’Leary, a legendary investor, showed up on CNN after Walz’s comments to give him a bit of a reality check. O’Leary essentially called Walz out of touch for what he said about Tesla shares, especially considering Tesla made up a good portion of the Minnesota Retirement Fund.

As of June 2024, the pension fund held 1.6 million shares of Tesla stock worth over $319.6 million:

O’Leary continued to slam Walz for his comments:

“That poor guy didn’t check his portfolio and his own pension plan for the state. It’s beyond stupid what he did. What’s the matter with that guy? He doesn’t check the well-being of his own constituents.”

He even called Walz “a bozo” for what he said.

Of course, Walz’s comments are expected considering Musk’s support for the Trump Administration, as the Tesla CEO was a major contributor to the 45th President’s campaign for his second term.

However, it seems extremely out of touch that Walz made these comments without realizing the drop was potentially hurting his fund. While we don’t know if the fund has sold its entire Tesla holdings since June, as a newer, more recent report has not been released yet, it seems unlikely the automaker’s shares are not still making up some portion of the fund.

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Tesla gets an upgrade on ‘upcoming material catalysts’

Published

5 days ago

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March 19, 2025

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(Source: Tesla)

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received an upgraded rating on its shares from Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who recently took a trip to Austin to visit the company’s data centers and production lines ahead of several high-profile product launches set for this year.

It was a bold move, especially considering Tesla shares are under immense pressure currently, fending off negative news regarding the company’s sentiment and potentially lower-than-expected delivery figures due to the launch of a new version of its most popular vehicle, the Model Y.

However, the bulls on Wall Street are still considering Tesla to be a safe play, especially considering its robust presence in various industries, including automotive, energy, and AI/Robotics.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard said in a note that, during a recent visit to Tesla’s Cortex AI data centers and the production line at Gigafactory Texas, it was clear there is a lot of potential and runway for Tesla in 2025:

“On 3/18, we visited Tesla’s Cortex AI data centers and the factory’s production lines ahead of the company’s introduction of its Robotaxi segment (targeted for June in Austin, followed by CA later in 2025). With Tesla’s shares now down ~45% YRD, we upgrade Tesla to Overweight (from Neutral) ahead of upcoming material catalysts. Our $425 12-month PT is unchanged. Our Thoughts: Attractive Entry Point Ahead of Material Catalysts.”

Sheppard went on to mention the catalysts, which he believes are the Robotaxi rollout in Austin in June, along with the continued rollout of Full Self-Driving in China, the eventual rollout of FSD in Europe, and the introduction of the affordable models in the first half of this year, and those were just on the automotive side.

There are several others, including Optimus, growth in the energy division, and in the longer term, the Semi.

In terms of potential weaknesses, Sheppard expects the likely removal of the EV tax credit and some of its growth to be offset by tariffs as the two big things that stand in the way of even more growth for the company.

Tesla is up over 5 percent on Wednesday, trading at $236.86.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla stock surges on Wednesday, but there’s still more room to go

Published

2 weeks ago

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March 12, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) surged over 7 percent on Wednesday, canceling out some of the losses it has felt this week.

It has been a less-than-ideal start for Tesla in 2025, as the company has wiped out all of its gains felt from the victorious election campaign of President Donald Trump. The stock is down 34 percent so far this year.

The losses have mostly been felt due to reports of decreased demand due to pushback against CEO Elon Musk and his support of President Trump, as well as investor concern over the CEO’s personal use of time between the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Tesla itself.

In a note this week from Wedbush, analyst Dan Ives wrote:

“Musk needs to step up as Tesla CEO at this critical juncture. In a nutshell, the word ‘balance’ has been missing with Elon Musk and his ability to run Tesla as CEO….while instead focusing all of his energy and time driving his DOGE initiative within the Trump Administration. Since Trump’s White House 2nd term kicked off in January, we have seen Musk and Trump connected at the hip with Musk essentially living at the White House and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. There has been little to no sign of Musk at any Tesla factory or manufacturing facility the last two months and perception has become reality for Tesla shares. Trump getting elected President was a huge moment for Musk and Tesla in our view as this will create the fast track for an autonomous federal roadmap…however the DOGE efforts have now intertwined Tesla into this brewing political firestorm.”

Wednesday’s slight bump for Tesla shares is likely related to the support the company received from President Trump yesterday, who purchased a Model S sedan at the White House and pledged to pay for it with a check.

President Donald Trump buys a Tesla at the White House – Here’s which model he chose

The move was one that signaled a buying spree from high-profile Republicans, including Sean Hannity, among others, who announced their support for Musk and Tesla:

Tesla shares closed at $248.09 on Wednesday, up 7.59%.

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