Posted on 02/03/2016 9:33:06 AM PST by Signalman
Tesla (TSLA) stock is down more than 25% so far this year. It hit its lowest level since February 2014 on Wednesday.
Wall Street has grown increasingly skeptical about the company in recent weeks.
Adam Hull, an analyst with European investment bank Berenberg, initiated coverage on Tesla Wednesday with a sell rating.
Pacific Crest analyst Brad Erickson said in a report Tuesday that investors should "avoid" Tesla stock. He cited concerns about sluggish demand for the company's new Model X crossover.
And even longtime Tesla bull Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley, is suddenly feeling a little less optimistic about the electric car company. Jonas cut his price target from $450 a share to $333 on Monday.
That's still more than 80% higher than Tesla's current stock price. But Jonas conceded that Tesla could be hurt by the continued plunge in oil prices as well as increased competition in the race to create a autonomous, or self-driving, car.
As long as oil prices remain low, average consumers (as opposed to the wealthy who can afford to buy a Model S or Model X and presumably aren't checking gas prices daily) may not feel compelled to switch to an electric car.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Hadn’t thought of that, but yeah.
This is anecdotal, but I’ve been seeing a lot of Teslas driving around town.
More and more all the time. I guess some people like them. Perhaps it’s a bit of status.
They look nice. I know nothing about them in terms of practicality.
I would think the massive recalls were their worst nightmare?
“May not feel compelled to buy an electric car”.
Key word: COMPELLED. Just the next step away from being forced to buy an electric car.
You get all sorts of tax credits for those things.
The people who will shell out 70-90k for a car with a 250 mile range and at best 4 hour recharge don’t care what gas prices are like. Tesla doesn’t have the tech down to make a cheap car for the masses who will make the mileage calculation.
Tesla stock is down because they keep recalling cars, have had massive failure rates on the early models, and don’t meet production targets.
I think a $100,000 + price tag and a crappy economy might have something to do with it. There is a finite demographic of people who will plunk down that kind of coin for a toy.
It's what Hybrids were some years back: By driving a Tesla you show you're much better than those little people that are driving gas powered planet destroying vehicles and you want everyone to know that.
Cheap gas isn’t going to last forever.
Good point.
Anybody who can afford to fork out $70,000+ for a novelty vehicle isn’t worried about the cost of gas.........
It might impact plans for the more consumer oriented Tesla model in the works. However, from what I've seen (I've actually driven a Tesla S) and read on the engineering aspects I'd still bet on Tesla. Tesla has several key technological advantages over any other electric out there. A couple of the major ones being range and recharging time. Funny to see "miles per hour" used in the context of "miles (of range) per hour (of charging)" :-)
“They look nice. I know nothing about them in terms of practicality.”
Excellent acceleration and handling. If you live near a Tesla charging station, FREE electricity. Or if you have a free charging station at work.
yeah ... Gas cars get about 4800 miles/hour (of charging), regardless of weather or road conditions.
Just to put the whole thing in perspective.
Nevada really screwed themselves by giving away the farm to Tesla and Faraday.
Middle class Americans shouldn’t be subsidizing expensive toys like Teslas.
The supercharger can put 80% in about 30 minutes. About 170 miles range.
Zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds ...
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