Tesla has had a shaky year. With issues ranging from missed production targets to alleged requests for cash rebates from suppliers to Elon Musk’s brash public responses to naysayers, the future of Tesla (TSLA) and Musk, co-founder and CEO, remains a contentious matter on Wall Street.
Tesla stock has dropped over 7% YTD and has remained on a downward trend as a result of the rise of unfavorable reports against the company and its leader. Morgan Stanley analysts have stated that creating any sort of trading strategy for the stock would be “extremely challenging” due to the volatility it has experienced in recent months.
Several experts have appeared on CNBC recently to share their outlook on the company and its leadership under Elon Musk, exhibiting attitudes of either hope or concern.
- Gene Munster of Loup Ventures expressed concern regarding Tesla’s performance and Musk’s behavior, referencing events such as the March 18 earnings call, in which Musk labeled analyst questions “boring” and “bonehead,” the Tesla saboteur exchange last month, and Musk’s recent “pedo guy” claim against Vernon Unsworth, a diver involved in the Thai cave rescue mission. Munster said these events have “[illustrated] a leader that was thin-skinned and short tempered,” although he believes they do not reflect the “reality of who Elon Musk [is].”
- Trip Chowdhry, Global Equities Research, states that through its research and development in fields such as autonomous driving, software, batteries, and supercharging, Tesla is doing things that “[have] never been created before.” “All the naysayers were experts in their previous version of the industry, and they are completely clueless in their new industry that is being created as we speak,” Chowdhry concludes.
- Jamie Albertine from Consumer Edge Research shared a hopeful outlook, stating his price target of $385 for Tesla within the next two quarters. “Many smart investors that have a much longer term view on this than the next six months love the fact that Elon is an innovator and continues to invest in that innovation,” Albertine says.
Tesla has announced that it will release its Q2 financial report next Wednesday, August 1, after the closing bell.
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