Key takeout
Longtime Tesla (TSLA) Bull Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, says Elon Musk is the only person who can turn the reputation of EV makers, and the billionaire needs to show that he balances government efficiency with his role with American automakers.
Ives, along with two other Wedbush analysts, stuck to Tesla’s outperform rating and a $550 price target on Wednesday. However, analysts pointed out that the company is suffering from a “brand tornado crisis” due to political backlash from Musk’s work with Doge, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting agency.
According to analysts, Musk said “he’s officially going to announce that he’ll become CEO of Doge and Tesla” in order to “change the story” around inventory. Analysts said such statements could prevent permanent brand damage from US automakers.
And another measure that should be taken on masks, according to analysts, is to provide investors with the “roadmap and timing” for the low-cost EVs planned by Tesla this year, and provide details on the unsupervised, fully automated driving deployment in Austin, set for June.
“Tesla is experiencing a crisis and there’s one person who can fix it… musk,” the analyst wrote.
Tesla stocks have fallen 40% so far this year, struck by investors’ perceptions that not only rebounds, but also that Doge’s role is to distract Musk from running an EV maker. Tesla has also been slow in sales in the US, China and Europe.
Tesla shares fell more than 1% on Thursday.
