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Tesla shares are now down around 40 percent so far this year, hammered by a fierce competition wave out of China and politically motivated boycotts in the US and the EU. Now, a Tesla uber-bull analyst seems to have read the proverbial writing on the wall by slashing his erstwhile sky-high stock price target by nearly half.
$TSLA: Wedbush cuts target price to $315 from $550
“We remain bullish on Tesla, but this is a critical moment for Musk. The brand is weakening as a political symbol, and the situation is unsustainable. Musk has overcome major challenges before — this may be his toughest yet.”
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) April 6, 2025
To wit, Wedbush’s Dan Ives has now slashed his price target for Tesla shares by 42.7 percent from $550 to $315, while retaining an overall ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock.
Even though Ives asserts that his “long-standing bull view of Tesla remains,” he adds a qualifier by conceding that “this is a pivotal moment of truth for Musk to turn things around…or darker days are ahead.”
Ives goes on to note:
“We have been one of the biggest supporters of Musk and Tesla over the last decade….but this situation is not sustainable and the brand of Tesla is suffering by the day as a political symbol.”
In what constitutes a sooting salve for the frayed nerves of Tesla investors, the Wedbush analyst notes that “Musk has been with his back against the wall many times and every time Tesla came out of it and was stronger on the other side…this may be one of his biggest challenges yet to turn around.”
As mentioned earlier, Tesla sales have struggled lately in the face of stiff competition out of China and politically motivated boycotts in the EU and the US. Elon Musk recently alienated a large segment of the German population by vigorously supporting the far-right AfD party in recent elections. Meanwhile, in the US, Musk’s DOGE-related activities continue to drive a political wedge into Tesla’s brand image.
And, now we have solid numbers to back assertions of ongoing brand damage. As we reported last week, Tesla’s deliveries cratered to multi-year lows in the first quarter of 2025, with the EV giant managing to record sales of just 336,681 units in the recently-concluded quarter against expectations of 377,600 units (IR-compiled consensus estimate).
What’s more, Tesla’s inventory level soared from 77,330 units at the end of Q4 2024 to 103,264 units at the end of Q1 2025, despite a retooling-driven extended halt across the EV giant’s production lines ahead of the launch of the Model Y Juniper.
While some analysts, including Future Fund’s Gary Black, continue to expect a gradual reset in the prevailing narrative around Tesla as the upcoming launch of unsupervised FSD in Austin draws near, we have yet to see any material evidence of such a paradigm shift.
