Tesla drifting in ‘no man’s land’ after tanking 43%

investmentnews.com:

Elon Musk is known to challenge the status quo — and that’s exactly what Tesla Inc.’s investors are worried about right now.

The company’s shares are weathering the longest rout since late 2022, tumbling nearly 19% over the past seven days, amid doubts about its business strategy as sales of electric vehicles slump.

The latest worry? That Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, will announce plans on Tuesday’s earnings call to nix the rollout of a cheaper model and focus on developing a fully self-driving vehicle — a project that would face considerable regulatory and commercial obstacles.

That would mark a major break with what analysts had been expecting and leave the company with no near-term catalyst for growth, just when it’s expected to report the first quarterly sales drop since the pandemic struck in 2020.

“Up until several weeks ago, the key focal point into the first-quarter result wasTesla’s vehicle sales fundamentals, with Tesla facing an extremely challenged set-up amid a sharp delivery miss, risk of no growth in volume in 2024, and further pressure to margins,” said Barclays Plc analyst Dan Levy, who has the equivalent of a neutral rating on the stock.

Levy said those issues have since taken a back seat to a bigger issue: “An investment thesis pivot.” 

Such concerns have driven the stock down nearly 43% this year through Monday’s close to $142.05, a 15-month low. It’s the second-worst performer in the S&P 500 so far this year, lagging only Globe Life Inc., an insurance company targeted by short sellers. On Tuesday, the shares were down 0.5% at 9:41 a.m. in New York.

This year’s slide in the stock has raised the risk that any disappointment in Tuesday’s earnings report or Musk’s conference call could