One of Wall Street’s most bullish Tesla Inc. analysts slashed his price target for the stock by 43%, citing a brand crisis created by CEO Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
“Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” Daniel Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst who’s rated the carmaker’s shares a buy for the last four years, wrote in a report to clients Sunday. “It is time for Musk to step up, read the room and be a leader in this time of uncertainty.”
Ives reduced his Tesla share-price target to US$315 ($424.15) from US$550, which had been the second-highest among the 72 analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Ives’ biggest concern is the potential for Tesla to get caught up in backlash against the US president’s tariff policies in China, where Tesla generated more than a fifth of its revenue last year.
President Xi Jinping’s government plans to impose a 34% tariff on all imports from the US starting April 10, matching the level of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on Chinese products.
“This will further drive Chinese consumers to buy domestic such as BYD, Nio, Xpeng and others,” Ives said in his note issued Sunday. “We now estimate Tesla has lost/destroyed at least 10% of its future customer base globally based on self-created brand issues, and this could be a conservative estimate.”
See also: CGSI prefers defensive stocks, believes negative spillover is likely from tariffs
Tesla shares plunged 15% in the two days after Trump announced he would apply at least a 10% tariff on all countries’ imports into the US, with even higher duties on some 60 nations to counter trade imbalances. The stock has fallen 50% from its record high reached Dec 17.
