While the electric vehicle market, in general, hasn’t been a house afire lately, one of the leading figures in that market—Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)—is facing the worst market conditions it’s ever seen. Right now, shares are down about 64% from the high point seen a little over a year ago.
This isn’t the first time that Tesla has seen significant declines. However, it is the first time that the declines have been so pronounced. The last time such a drop was seen was back in 2020, during the earliest days of COVID-19 when most investors were in sell-off mode. Between February 19, 2020, to March 18, 2020, Tesla stock dropped 60.6%. The latest drop, therefore, is now the largest. In fact, Tesla lost nearly a quarter of its value just this month alone – and this month is only half over.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the hefty drawdown is Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. It was a major headline for months and brought controversy almost from day one. Fast forward to today, and Musk has sold nearly $40 billion worth of Tesla stock to get his hands on Twitter. The move has left analysts looking askance at the entire project. Gene Munster of Loop Capital suggested Musk could do “long-term damage” to Tesla should he fail to “pull it together.”
Despite these losses, Tesla is still considered a worthwhile stock pick. Analyst consensus currently calls Tesla a Moderate Buy. Tesla’s average price target of $294.15 gives it 95.80% upside potential, assuming it doesn’t go down much further.
