Elon Musk’s Tesla once represented the future of automaking. Now the company’s own future is in question.
The once red-hot electric vehicle maker — heralded as part of the so-called Magnificent Seven behemoth tech stocks — is currently the worst performer in the S&P 500 this year, down nearly 32% since January.
The story of Tesla’s (TSLA) decline has been well documented. The company has been plagued by safety issues and recalls, slowing growth and has even been forced to slash prices. But a new report by Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan on Wednesday offers a darker picture than previously imagined.
Tesla, he wrote, is a “growth company with no growth.”
Langan predicts that Tesla’s growth will remain flat this year and then decline in 2025 as competition increases, deliveries disappoint and the beleaguered auto and tech company is forced to cut prices again.
UBS also downgraded its forecast for Tesla on Wednesday. Analysts said concerns are mounting as demand for electric vehicles slows and as Chinese rivals take an ever greater share of the global market.
With the exception of Tesla, all of the Magnificent Seven companies (that also includes Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Nvidia and Microsoft) saw double- or triple-digit earnings growth in the final three months of 2023. Tesla reported a 40% decline in profit from the year before.
Tesla has been navigating through a perfect storm. The EV environment is getting more crowded right as the company’s fundamentals have come into question. Its share price has dropped about 60% from its 2021 all-time high of $407.
But even with the recent drop in price, Tesla’s stock is still very expensive when compared to its actual earnings and profits, said Langan. The company’s former propensity for rapid growth is no longer certain, he said, and shares likely have further to fall.
Wells Fargo has lowered its price target for the stock from $200 to $125, predicting another 25% decrease in value. UBS, meanwhile, has lowered its price target to a more moderate $165 from $225.
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