Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to keep up-to-the-second on breaking news in the electric vehicle and clean energy space, as well as which stocks in these sectors that the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.
From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM (GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.
ALL-HANDS MEETING: At an all-hands meeting with Tesla employees on Thursday evening, Elon Musk reassured employees that they were still in good hands and said to “hang onto your stock.”
“Leaders lead in times of trouble and crisis… and (Thursday) night Elon Musk took a major and much needed step forward by hosting a rare all-hands meeting for employees, which was quickly put together and broadcast live on X,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says. With major protests erupting globally at Tesla dealerships, Tesla cars being keyed, and more head scratching planned protests in the works for March 29, the firm believes this was a key moment for Musk and Tesla to show leadership and he did. Analyst Daniel Ives applauds Musk for “reading the room” and “showing important hand holding” at this key time for employees and investors. The firm has an Outperform rating on the shares with a price target of $550.
MATERIAL CATALYSTS: Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Tesla to Overweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $425 after having visited Tesla’s Cortex AI data centers and the factory’s production lines ahead of the company’s introduction of its Robotaxi segment that is targeted for June in Austin followed by California later in 2025. With Tesla shares now down about 45% year-to-date, the firm sees “an attractive entry point” for investors with a greater than 12-month investment horizon and who are comfortable with volatility. Upcoming “material catalysts” include the introduction of the Robotaxi segment in June, the rollout of FSD in China, the rollout of FSD in Europe, the introduction of lower-priced vehicle in the first half of 2025, high volume production of the Optimus Bot in 2026, initial deliveries of Optimus to customers some time next year and the introduction of the Semi Truck, Cantor says.
CYBERTRUCK RECALL: Tesla is recalling 46,096 Cybertruck vehicles in the U.S. to fix an exterior panel that could detach while driving, according to a NHTSA recall notice. The cant rail can delaminate and detach from the vehicle, the notice says. Tesla’s service will replace the rail assembly free of charge.
FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: As Tesla’s car sales and share price plummet in response to Elon Musk’s political and physical stances, Financial Times calls readers’ attention “to something puzzling in the group’s accounts,” Dan McCrum and Stephen Morris write. Compare Tesla’s capital expenditure in the last six months of 2024 to its valuation of the assets that money was spent on, and $1.4B appears to have gone astray, the authors say. The sum is big enough to matter even at Tesla, and comes at a moment when attention is returning to the group’s underlying numbers, now that its fully diluted stock market valuation has crashed from $1.7T to below $800B. A closer look at Tesla’s cash flow statement may also prompt investors to ask other questions, such as why a business with a $37B cash pile raised $6B of new debt last year?
FSD FEATURE: Tesla will roll out its smart driving-assistance feature in China after completing approval of relevant software, Reuters reports. In late February, China’s industry ministry issued new rules requiring autonomous driving-related over-the-air software upgrades to be subject to regulatory approval, and Tesla’s roll out of a free trial of Full Self-Driving service in China initially scheduled between March 17 and April 16 had been paused.
Click here to check out Tesla’s recent Media Buzz Sentiment as measured by TipRanks.
CHARGING: Chinese automaker BYD Co. (BYDDF) unveiled a lineup of electric vehicles that it said can charge almost as fast as it takes to refuel a regular car, CNBC’s Sam Meredith reports. The new “Super e-Platform” technology will be capable of peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts, BYD said, adding that this will allow cars that use the technology to achieve 400 kilometers, or roughly 249 miles, of range with just 5 minutes of charging.
DRIVER-ASSISTANCE CAPABILITIES: Chinese electric car company Zeekr (ZK) is releasing advanced driver-assistance capabilities to its local customers for free as competition heats up, Zeekr CEO Andy An told CNBC ahead of a launch event Tuesday, Evelyn Cheng reports. The firm is a rival of Tesla, which is trying to attract more buyers of its Full Self Driving technology in China.
HEAVY LIFTING NEEDED: Piper Sandler downgraded Rivian Automotive to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $13, down from $19. The firm likes Rivian’s strategy and says the joint venture with VW helped de-risk the balance sheet. However, despite a generally favorable view, Piper struggles to identify upside catalysts for the shares in 2025. In 2026, investors can look forward to the R2 launch, and possibly joint venture customer wins, but between now and then, Rivian has minimal growth and “lots of heavy lifting,” the firm tells investors in a research note. Piper is also wary of policy risk, noting Rivian is exposed to a “potential triple-whammy” in 2025. The firm thinks the automaker stocks aside from Tesla should be avoided.
ELECTRIC PICKUPS: Hyundai Motors (HYMLF) and General Motors are near finalizing a deal for Hyundai to share two electric commercial van models with the U.S. car maker, Reuters’ Hyunjoo Jin, Norihiko Shirouzu, and Heekyong Yang report, citing a source familiar with the talks and Hyundai documents. In return, GM could provide the Korean auto giant with pickup trucks to sell under its own brand in North America, the authors note.