Tesla’s China Car Registrations Jump In May; Stock Down In Pre-Market On Analysts’ Rating Cuts

Tesla Inc.’s (TSLA) China car registrations in May jumped 150% month on month, Reuters reported citing data from auto consultancy LMC Automotive.

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The U.S. electric vehicle maker’s China registrations, including imported cars, grew to 11,565 in May from 4,633 units in April.

Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows sales of Tesla’s Shanghai-made Model 3 sedan hit 11,095 units in May.

Still, shares in Tesla continued to fall in Monday’s pre-market trading declining another 3.4% to $903.45 after dropping 3.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, year-to-date the stock has more than doubled.

Last week’s start of a downward trend was triggered by two rating downgrades from analysts at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas lowered his rating on the stock to Sell from Hold with a $650 price target (31% downside potential) amid concerns about U.S.-China trade dynamics as well as recent price cuts of some of the car maker’s models.

Jonas believes that Tesla’s recent rally, doesn’t adequately reflect the potential for a deterioration in U.S.-China trade relations that could “disproportionately” impact Tesla relative to other automotive companies.

Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy, citing its high valuation.

“We’d look to become more positive on Tesla stock again if we had more confidence in the near to intermediate term trajectory of fundamentals, or if valuation became more attractive,” Delaney wrote in a note to investors.

TipRanks data shows that the stock has Hold analyst consensus with 11 Sells and 9 Holds versus 8 Buys. Meanwhile, the Street’s $632.45 average price target implies 32% downside potential in the shares over the coming year. (See Tesla’s stock analysis on TipRanks).