Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is losing its footing overseas, falling drastically behind its Chinese industry rivals.
In July, the automaker saw a staggering 34% drop in European sales compared to last year, even as Europe’s electric vehicle (EV) market expands, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s (ACEA) latest report.
The company’s European market share accordingly fell from 11% to just 5% in a single month, while BYD’s (HKEX: 1211) registrations, for example, more than tripled.
While Tesla shares were up 0.87% at the time of writing early on Thursday, the average price sat at $305.37 for the next 12 months, representing a 13.71% decrease from the current price of $351.67, based on 36 Wall Street analyst ratings aggregated on TipRanks.
Tesla analysts mixed
Over the past seven days, Tesla saw a rather mixed combination of takes.
For example, GLJ Research reiterated its “Sell” rating on August 21, with a price target of just $19.05, which translates to a downside potential of nearly 95%.
Five days later, however, Morgan Stanley reiterated its “Buy” rating with a target price of $410, a 16.59% upside from the current price action.
Morgan Stanley, in fact, appears to be highly optimistic on all high-cap stocks.
On August 28, Andrew Slimmon, Morgan Stanley’s Investment Management senior portfolio manager, said in an interview with CNBC that the future for stocks is looking “very bright”.
“I am surprised that sentiment is not higher than it is currently because corporate earnings have come in very strong this year, and estimates should be being raised across the board… And yet they haven’t. That suggests to me that there is a dislocation between sentiment and fundamentals” — Andrew Slimmon
Whether Simmon’s words should be applied to Tesla is debatable as the EV leader’s momentum continues to fade due to other reasons beyond just sales, including an aging lineup and CEO Elon Musk’s political controversies.
Featured image via Shutterstock
