Charged: Tesla said to delay U.S. launch of lower cost Model Y

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.

LAUNCH DELAYED: Tesla’s launch of production for an affordable car has been delayed, Abhirup Roy, Aditi Shah, and Hyunjoo Jin of Reuters report, citing three sources with knowledge of the matter. Global production of the lower-cost Model Y is expected to begin in the U.S., the sources said. Production is expected to occur at least a few months later than originally outlined in Tesla’s public plan, with a range of revised targets from Q3 to early next year, the sources added. 

CYBERTRUCK PRODUCTION: Tesla has dropped production targets for several Cybertruck lines over the past few months and has also reduced a handful of Cybertruck productions teams by more than half, Business Insider’s Grace Kay reports, citing two workers with knowledge of the targets. The automaker, which has delivered fewer than 50,000 of the vehicles, has continued to shift employees from the Cybertruck line to the Model Y line since January. 

CONFUSING SETUP: Barclays lowered the firm’s price target on Tesla to $275 from $325 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The share setup into Tesla’s Q1 results is “confusing,” but there is potential for the stock to outperform, the firm says. Tesla faces questions on increasingly weaker fundamentals and its Q1 auto margin excluding credits is expected to reach a new low, Barclays tells investors in a research note. The firm believes it will be increasingly difficult for Tesla to achieve volume growth in 2025. However, Barclays also sees potential for Elon Musk to talk to plans to be increasingly re-engaged with the company. In addition, Tesla’s planned launch of unsupervised and driverless full self-driving in Austin in June could drive incremental excitement, adds the firm. The “good narrative could outweigh weak fundamentals,” Barclays says.

PARTS FROM CHINA: Tesla’s plans to ship parts from China for the Cybercab and Semi electric trucks in the U.S. were suspended after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods, Reuters reports, citing a person with direct knowledge. The move may disrupt the company’s plans to begin mass production of the models. Tesla was prepared to absorb the costs when Trump imposed the 34% tariff on Chinese goods but could not do so when the tariffs were increased, leaving shipping plans suspended, the person told Reuters. 

Click here to check out Tesla’s recent Media Buzz Sentiment as measured by TipRanks.

CANADIAN SOLAR UPGRADED: Citi upgraded Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to Neutral from Sell with an $8 price target. The company’s current valuation reflects no value for CSI Solar and an “impaired value” for Recurrent Energy, the firm tells investors in a research note. Citi estimates Recurrent alone is worth $12 per share in book value. The firm believes Inflation Reduction Act risks and a large portion of tariff impact appear to be already in utility scale stocks.

MOVING TO SUNRUN SIDELINES: Citi downgraded Sunrun (RUN) to Neutral from Buy with a $7 price target. The firm sees potential elimination of investment tax credit adders as the biggest risk that could impair residential solar, which it notes depends on third-party ownership financing for half of U.S. installs. The changes to the Inflation Redaction Act and potential for elimination of ITC bonus adders could create “unsurmountable challenges” for Sunrun by eliminating future free cash flow once safe harbor volumes are exhausted, Citi tells investors in a research note.