Connect with us

Investor's Corner

Wall Street thinks Tesla ($TSLA) is headed into bear territory

Published

on

In advance of tomorrow’s Q4 earnings call, Tesla investors and Wall Street analysts have seldom held more conflicting views about where the stock is heading. Shares in Tesla have advanced 50% in the past 3 months, setting historic highs along the way. Based on market capitalization, Tesla is now worth just slightly less than auto manufacturers Ford and General Motors.

Some analyst think the stock will go higher still. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas forecasts a price of $305 per share in the near future but many of his colleagues disagree. Bloomberg recently polled 14 analysts and found the majority of them see the stock going lower in the months ahead. The median response was $48 per share below where the stock is today. That is the most pessimistic view among Wall Street traders since Tesla went public 7 years ago and is reflected in Bloomberg’s chart below.

Of the six analysts who have updated their advice on Tesla in the month of February, none has raised the estimate. That is despite the company announcing that it would begin pilot production of the Model 3 this week, news that has been one of the triggers for the latest run up. We “see no fundamental reason for run-up,” said UBS Securities LLC analyst Colin Langan. He sent a note to his clients last week in which he projected the price of Tesla stock to fall back to$160 a share over the next 12 months.

Why the disconnect? Traditionally, market watchers pay attention to something they call the Relative Strength Index, which measures the speed and change of a stock price either up or down. In essence, it is is a tool designed to strip out the emotional component that affects all stock valuations and insulate professionals from getting caught up in the herd mentality.

If the RSI climbs above 70, that  indicates a stock is “overbought.” Such a level is widely considered to be a “sell signal.” Conversely, anything below 30 is considered “oversold” and is considered a “buy signal.” Tesla’s RSI soared to 83 last week, the highest level in more than 4 years.

Advertisement

Tesla has a lot on its plate this year. In addition to getting the Model 3 into regular production, it is aggressively pursuing its grid scale battery storage business, expanding the Gigafactory, completing the integration of SolarCity into the business, rolling out its new Solar Roof product line, continuing the expansion of its Supercharger network, opening new stores, and building new service centers. It is also pushing into new markets in Portugal, Dubai, Taiwan, India, and Korea.

In the spring of 2016, Elon Musk predicted Tesla would have a market capitalization equal to Apple by the year 2025, or somewhere around $700 billion. Musk has never been shy about touting his projections for the future and many investors take his pronouncements as articles of faith. They see stock analysts as Luddites who just don’t “get it” when it comes to Musk and Tesla.

“Tesla is a serial capital raiser,” says Adam Jonas. “As such, its ability to sustain its operations and fundamental value is inextricably linked to the very performance of its share price, creating a self-reinforcing momentum.” Whether that “self-reinforcing momentum” will continue to propel Tesla’s stock price higher is anybody’s guess.

 

Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla analyst says Musk stock buy should send this signal to investors

“With Musk’s (Tesla stock) purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish.”

Published

on

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased roughly $1 billion in Tesla shares on Friday, and analysts are now breaking down the move as the stock is headed upward.

One of them is William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer, who said in a new note to investors on Monday that Musk’s move should send a signal of confidence to stock buyers, especially considering the company’s numerous catalysts that currently exist.

Elon Musk just bought $1 billion in Tesla stock, his biggest purchase ever

Dorsheimer said in the note:

“With Musk’s (Tesla stock) purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish. This purchase is Musk’s first buy since 2020. To us, this sends a strong signal of confidence in the most important part of Tesla’s future business, robotaxi.”

Advertisement

Musk putting an additional $1 billion back into the company in the form of more stock ownership is obviously a huge vote of confidence.

He knows more than anyone about the progress Tesla has made and is making on the Robotaxi platform, as well as the company’s ongoing efforts to solve vehicle autonomy. If he’s buying stock, it is more than likely a good sign.

Tesla has continued to expand its Robotaxi platform in a number of ways. The project has gotten bigger in terms of service area, vehicle fleet, and testing population. Tesla has also recently received a permit to test in Nevada, unlocking the potential to expand into a brand-new state for the company.

In the note, Dorsheimer also touched on Musk’s recent pay package, revealing that William Blair recently met with Tesla’s Board of Directors, who gave the firm some more color on the situation:

“We recently participated in a meeting with Tesla’s board of directors to discuss the details of Musk’s performance package. The board is confident of its position in the Delaware case and anticipates a verdict by end of year. It does not expect a similar situation to occur under new Texas jurisdiction. Musk has the board’s full support, and we expect he’ll get more than enough shareholder support for this to pass with flying colors.”

Advertisement

Tesla stock is up over 6 percent so far today, trading at $421.50 at the time of publication.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk just bought $1 billion in Tesla stock, his biggest purchase ever

Prior to this latest move, Musk’s most recent purchase was for about 200,000 shares worth $10 million in 2020.

Published

on

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons


Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose on Monday after CEO Elon Musk disclosed a rare insider purchase of company stock worth about $1 billion. 

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Musk acquired 2.57 million shares last Friday at various prices. The move represents Musk’s largest TSLA purchase ever by value, as per Verity data.

Elon Musk’s TSLA purchase

The disclosure sent Tesla shares up more than 8% in premarket trading Monday, as investors read the purchase as a notable vote of confidence, as stated in a CNBC report. Tesla stock had closed slightly lower Friday but remains more than 25% higher over the past three months. It should be noted that prior to this latest move, Musk’s most recent purchase was for about 200,000 shares worth $10 million in 2020.

Market watchers say the purchase could help shore up investor sentiment amid a volatile year for TSLA stock. Shares have faced pressure from a variety of factors, from year-over-year sales challenges due to the new Model Y changeover, political controversies tied to Musk, and reduced U.S. incentives for EVs under the Trump administration. Nevertheless, analysts such as Wedbush’s Dan Ives stated that Musk’s purchase was a “huge sign of confidence for Tesla bulls and shows Musk is doubling down on his Tesla A.I. bet.”

Tesla and Elon Musk

Musk already owns about 13% of Tesla, and his latest purchase comes as the company prepares for a key shareholder vote in November. Investors will decide whether to approve a compensation package for Musk that could ultimately be worth as much as $975 billion if ambitious market value milestones are achieved. The package has a long-term target of pushing Tesla’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion, compared with about $1.3 trillion at Friday’s close.

Advertisement

Wall Street’s current consensus price target still implies a roughly 20% decline from current levels, though some Tesla bulls remain optimistic that the company could shift its focus toward autonomy, AI, and robotics. Musk has also asked shareholders to approve an investment into his latest venture, xAI.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla bear turns bullish for two reasons as stock continues boost

“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Manufacturing

A Tesla bear is changing his tune, turning bullish for two reasons as the company’s stock has continued to get a boost over the past month.

Dan Nathan, a notorious skeptic of Tesla shares, said he is changing his tune, at least in the short term, on the company’s stock because of “technicals and sentiment,” believing the company is on track for a strong Q3, but also an investment story that will slowly veer away from its automotive business.

“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.

He also said he believes a rally for the stock could continue as it heads into the end of the quarter, especially as the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit is coming to an end at the end of the month.

With that being said, he believes the consensus for Q3 deliveries is “probably low,” as he believes Wall Street is likely underestimating what Tesla will bring to the table on October 1 or 2 when it reports numbers for the quarter.

Tesla shares are already up over five percent today, with gains exceeding nine percent over the past five trading days, and more than fourteen percent in the past month.

While some analysts are looking at the performance of other Mag 7 stocks, movement on rates from the Federal Reserve, and other broader market factors as reasoning for Tesla’s strong performance, it appears some movement could be related to the company’s recent developments instead.

Over the past week, Tesla has made some strides in its Robotaxi program, including a new license to test the platform in the State of Nevada, which we reported on.

Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state

Additionally, the company is riding the tails of the end of the EV tax credit, as inventory, both new and used, is running extremely low, generally speaking. Many markets do not have any vehicles to purchase as of right now, making delivery by September 30 extremely difficult.

However, there has been some adjustments to the guidelines by the IRS, which can be read here:

Tesla set to win big after IRS adjusts EV tax credit rules

Tesla is trading at around $389 at 10:56 a.m. on the East Coast.

Continue Reading

Trending