Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock is one of the most talked-about positions in today’s stock market, but what are analysts saying about the electric automaker as the first quarter of 2024 comes to a close?
The Good
Tesla shares have been a solid investment for those who chose to get in early and plan to hold long-term. Over the past five years, the stock has increased by over 860 percent. At midday on Wednesday, it trades at $180, a $161 increase from the same date in 2019.
Some analysts’ outlook for the future is just as good as it was a few years ago. Tesla is still a very strong company in the automotive, tech, energy, and artificial intelligence sectors, and it has a lot to look forward to.
Moving into the latter half of the decade is when some analysts are leaning on Tesla to bring back its super bullish narrative. Tesla was transparent with investors earlier this year when it said it was stuck between two growth periods and that the next-gen platform, which is set to launch next year, will likely bring them back to the substantial growth investors expect.
Some analysts believe that betting on Elon Musk is a simple decision.
“[Tesla] has the best product engineer CEO on the planet,” Bradley Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, said. “When everybody else is negative about [companies] like that, that’s where we start getting excited, particularly when they’re run by a founder who is as extraordinary a product leader as Elon Musk.”
Some of Gerstner’s outlook for the stock relies on the introduction and rollout of a Robotaxi. If Tesla can pull off its plans for the Robotaxi fleet, Gerstner sees other OEMs in an unfavorable position and believes it would be “almost impossible” for them to replicate.
The Not So Good
What good is a stock without some skeptics? Tesla has plenty of them, and several analysts covering the stock have pulled back their expectations for growth, cutting price targets.
One of them is Itay Michaeli of Citi, who lowered his Tesla price target to $196 from $224 while maintaining a Neutral rating. Michaeli believes deliveries will be in the 429,900 range and said the company’s Q1 will “look tough on consensus estimates.”
Additionally, Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi believes Tesla has experienced “soft” demand in China and Europe. In his view, Model 3 production is also “constrained.” His delivery estimates were trimmed from 490,000 to 426,000.
The Big Picture
Tesla could still deliver two million units this year, but it will need a strong remainder of 2024 to reach this goal. Delivery and production estimates are as good as anyone’s guess, but Wall Street believes Tesla will report 471,000 units, FactSet reports.
Slowing growth is expected, as Tesla previously noted that its rate would be “notably” lower this year.
However, the development of the next-gen platform is underway, and Tesla investors will look for the affordable vehicle to reignite company growth and stock price increases from the latter portion of 2025 to the end of the decade.
Disclosure: Joey Klender owns Tesla stock.
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