Recently, due to a series of factors such as sluggish demand for electric vehicles, price wars that have damaged corporate profit margins, and a lackluster product lineup, Tesla, once the "market darling" and one of the "seven tech giants," has been in a "continuous decline.".
In view of this, well-known Tesla investor and CEO of Geber Kawasaki Wealth Management, Ross Gerber, shouted on Thursday that in order to "save" Tesla's plummeting stock price, CEO Elon Musk must either change his behavior or be replaced.
"If Tesla finds a CEO who can truly help the company, or Musk changes his attitude, truly refocuses on Tesla's work, and actively promotes the brand, the situation may soon improve," he said.
As of the close of the US stock market on Thursday, Tesla's stock price fell 4.12% to $162.50. So far this year, the stock has fallen by 35%. Gerber previously commented, "Tesla has just returned to reality, reached a more reasonable valuation, and reached the level it should have reached."
On Monday, Wells Fargo lowered its Tesla target price from $200 to $120, which is currently one of the lowest target prices given by Wall Street for Tesla, meaning the stock will fall another 30%. The bank describes Tesla as a "growth company without growth" and expects its earnings per share to be 32% lower than expected this year.
In addition to overall market headwinds and performance concerns, Musk, the CEO, is also one of the biggest reasons for Tesla's stock price crash. For investors like Gerber, disappointment with Musk's leadership and public image has reached its peak. Since his acquisition of X (formerly Twitter), this issue has been a focal point of debate.
Gerber often points out that in the past, Musk's popular tweets about Tesla effectively saved the company's marketing funds, but his behavior on social media platforms has become a source of controversy, causing harm to Tesla instead.
Last November, Musk's interaction with an anti Semitic post led Gerber to directly announce that he would replace his Model Y with Tesla's competitor Rivian.
He said in the latest interview, "I think investors have had enough. We are now seeing the fallacy of this business model, and the king of brand advertising has basically become the devil of brand advertising."
Even more disheartening is that Musk once threatened to withdraw his artificial intelligence project from Tesla unless he acquired a 25% stake, a requirement that Gerber called "delusional.".
Of course, there are also optimists in the market. Tesla's loyal fan and renowned strategist at the US investment bank Wedbush, Dan Ives, and his team, stated this week that the market is overly bearish on the stock, and Tesla's stock price may rebound by 77% in the next 12 months.
"We believe that due to Tesla's demand becoming more stable for the remainder of 2024, price reductions are slowing down, and battery costs/production are showing strong cost-effectiveness. In addition, the company plans to launch a Model 2 model priced below $30000 next year. These are all positive signals of stock price recovery," the bank said.