Tesla bulls cut price target on EV developers, automaker cancels solar projects across U.S.
Autos correspondent Pras Subramanian breaks down Wedbush analyst Dan Ives' decision to cut his price target on Tesla, as the EV developer reportedly cancels solar projects across the United States.
Video Transcript
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SEANA SMITH: Another big Gainer today, Tesla shares taking part in the rally. You can see it up just around 7%. The move higher coming despite a downbeat note from Wedbush's Dan Ives. He's taking his foot off the gas when it comes to his bullish view for the EV maker. Yahoo Finance's senior auto reporter, Pras Subramanian, is here with us.
And Pras, not necessarily something that I thought we would ever hear from Ives. He's remained bullish on Tesla through this whole, I guess uncertain period when it comes to Twitter and what that could mean for the company. Now though, he might finally be changing his tune just a bit.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I mean, he kind of threw in the towel. I never thought I'd see the day, I mean, he's such a strong bull with Tesla. But he said everyone has their limit I guess, right? So he said that he took it off their best ideas list. Still is a long-term play, but not a short-term play. Cut the price target to $250.
And he said Twitter is an albatross for Tesla, Musk and the investors. It's tarnished the Tesla story. Among other things he said in this tweet over here, he says, you know, this morning, the "Twitter madness needs to end. Brand destruction is our biggest worry with this Twitter circus show. It's that simple and I can't ignore it for Tesla's stock."
He said that Musk has done what no one else has in terms of the bears, he actually knocked the stock down. At least not today, but over the past year, up until today, the stock is down 49%, so a lot of that was because of these three big sales that he did, a lot of overhang in the stock. Hopefully, it's over for Tesla investors. But for Dan Ives, he's kind of sick and tired of it as of right now.
SEANA SMITH: He still has that buy rating.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Buy rating.
SEANA SMITH: Doesn't want to give that up just yet.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Outperform.
SEANA SMITH: Outperform, they you go.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: Still holding on, and that's even as we hear from transportation news site, Electric, they're reporting earlier that Tesla is actually scaling back its solar division. What can you tell us there?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, I was all surprised by this too. A lot of their solar installation projects across the country, they've been canceling them, telling customers that they're no longer going to pursue these projects, giving them money back in some cases. In some parts, these projects have had permits already submitted and also outlays made by customers.
So it's kind of surprising given the fact that Tesla has sort of put this Tesla energy ecosystem together where we have solar tiles, you have the battery, Tesla Powerwall, and you have the car also, all kind of working together. So I'm all surprised by this change in strategy. But I think that Electrek was also saying that they think that maybe Tesla wants third party installers to then take on these installations and not do it themselves. So maybe that's what they want to do.
SEANA SMITH: Interesting. Never a dull moment in the life of Elon Musk, that's for sure, as of recently. All right, Pras, thanks so much.
