Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares have been on a rollercoaster today, after the company’s Q1 delivery numbers came in well below expectations – fueling concerns that Elon Musk’s polarizing politics might be denting the brand’s shine.
The EV giant delivered 336,681 vehicles in Q1 – falling far short of Wall Street’s expectation of around 378,000. Even the most cautious analyst forecasts, hovering near 360,000, were missed by a wide margin.
In all, Tesla missed consensus by more than 10% and underperformed even the lowest projections by about 20,000 vehicles. Deliveries also tumbled 13% year-over-year, the sharpest quarterly drop in the company’s history.
And yet, in a twist straight out of the Musk playbook, Tesla stock staged a comeback. After plunging as much as 6%, shares flipped positive – up 5% – on a Politico report suggesting Musk might step away from his role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Meanwhile, even one of Tesla’s loudest cheerleaders, Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, didn’t sugarcoat the report, calling it “a disaster on every metric.”
“The Street and us knew a bad 1Q was coming but this was even worse than expected. The time has come for Musk….it’s a fork in the road moment. The more political he gets with DOGE the more the brand suffers, there is no debate. This quarter was an example of the damage Musk is causing Tesla. This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla with much better days ahead,” Ives opined.
“Musk needs to stop this political firestorm and balance being CEO of Tesla with DOGE. The future is so bright but this is a full blown crisis Tesla is navigating now and its primarily self-inflected. We remain firmly bullish on the long-term Tesla story but Musk needs to get his act together or else unfortunately darker times are ahead for Tesla,” the analyst added.
Despite the sharp critique, Ives isn’t abandoning ship. He’s sticking with an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating on TSLA and reaffirming his $550 price target – a call that suggests roughly 100% upside from where shares stand today. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here)
That said, the broader analyst community is taking a more cautious stance. While 13 others share Ives’ bullish long-term view, they’re nearly matched by 11 Holds and 12 Sells. The result? A consensus rating of Hold (i.e., Neutral). Based on the $315 average price target, Wall Street sees a more modest upside of roughly 12% in the year ahead. (See TSLA stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.