Tesla bull slashes stock price target by 43%, citing ‘brand crisis’ created by Musk and Trump

LONDON – One of Wall Street’s most bullish Tesla analysts slashed his price target for the stock by 43 per cent, citing a brand crisis created by chief executive Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

“Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” Mr Daniel Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst who has rated the carmaker’s shares a buy for the last four years, wrote in a report to clients on April 6. “It is time for Musk to step up, read the room, and be a leader in this time of uncertainty.”

Mr Ives reduced his Tesla share price target to US$315 from US$550, which had been the second-highest among the 72 analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Mr 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 in 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government plans to impose a 34 per cent tariff on all imports from the US starting April 10, matching the level of Mr 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,” Mr Ives said in his note issued on April 6. “We now estimate Tesla has lost/destroyed at least 10 per cent of its future customer base globally based on self-created brand issues, and this could be a conservative estimate.”

Tesla shares plunged 15 per cent in the two days after Trump announced on April 2 he would apply at least a 10 per cent 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 per cent to US$239.43 from its record high of US$479.86 reached on Dec 17, 2024. BLOOMBERG