For seven consecutive weeks, since billionaire Elon Musk moved to Washington to join the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, shares of his automaker Tesla have fallen, closing on Friday at $270.48, reports CNBC, writes UNN.
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This is the longest streak of failures for Tesla in 15 years as a public company.
Tesla's shares ended the week down more than 10% and at their lowest level since November 5, election day, when they closed at $251.44. After reaching a peak of nearly $480 on December 17, Tesla has lost over $800 billion in market capitalization.
This week, several Wall Street firms, including Bank of America, Baird, and Goldman Sachs, lowered their price targets for Tesla.
Lowering target prices from $490 to $380, analysts at Bank of America cited concerns about declining sales of the company's new cars and the lack of recent updates from Musk regarding the "affordable model."
Goldman Sachs, which lowered its target price for the shares to $320 from $345, also pointed to a decline in electric vehicle sales for Tesla in the first two months of the year across several markets in Europe, China, and some regions of the U.S.
Goldman analysts noted that Tesla faces a "tough competitive environment for FSD" in China, where key competitors "typically do not require a separate purchase of software for smart driving features." FSD, or Full Self-Driving (Supervised), is a partially automated driving system from Tesla that the company sells as a premium option in the U.S.
But Wall Street is concerned not only about fundamental metrics like sales and production figures. Investors are also trying to assess how Musk's policies and work in the White House will impact Tesla and for how long.
"Musk's interaction with the Trump administration adds uncertainty from the demand side," write analysts at Baird.
Sentiment against Musk and Tesla is rising in the U.S. and Europe, accompanied by a surge in protests and potential arson and vandalism at Tesla facilities.
Even the most optimistic analysts and many fans have had to acknowledge the impact of Musk's politics on the desirability of Tesla and its products for a broad range of customers and investors.
Tesla shares plunged sharply after a drop in sales in Europe26.02.25, 08:21 • [views_30502]