Goldman Sachs has recently downgraded Tesla's stock rating from "Buy" to "Neutral" with a target price of $248. The downgrade was mainly driven by valuation. Last week, both Morgan Stanley and Barclays also downgraded Tesla's rating.
Goldman Sachs has downgraded Tesla's stock rating from "buy" to "neutral" with a target price of $248. Tesla's stock price continued to fall on Monday, down more than 5% at one point to around $243, following last week's decline.
Goldman Sachs' downgrade of Tesla's rating is mainly driven by valuation. It should be noted that Goldman Sachs actually raised Tesla's target stock price from $185 to $248, reflecting the stock's rise in recent months.
Goldman Sachs believes that Tesla is in a favorable position for long-term growth given its leading position in the electric vehicle and clean energy markets, but its valuation has already been reflected in the stock price. Analyst Mark Delaney and his team said that after the recent sharp rebound, the market's valuation of Tesla has exceeded the stock's long-term opportunity.
Goldman Sachs said it remains positive on investments in the electric vehicle sector and continues to believe that there are the most investment opportunities among a wide range of suppliers, especially those with higher content required for electric vehicle and electrification transformation.
However, Goldman Sachs also warned that the new car pricing environment is difficult, which could damage Tesla's non-GAAP gross margin in 2023.
Goldman Sachs is not the first Wall Street bank to downgrade Tesla's rating in recent weeks. Last week, both Morgan Stanley and Barclays downgraded Tesla's rating:
Morgan Stanley downgraded Tesla's rating from "buy" to "hold" and raised its target stock price from $200 to $250 to reflect the stock's momentum in recent months. Morgan Stanley believes that the previous rise has pushed Tesla's stock price to a "reasonable" level.
Barclays downgraded Tesla's rating from "overweight" to "equal weight" with a target price of $260. Barclays analysts said that Tesla's rise has been too fast and too high. Although we are not surprised by Tesla's stock participation in the rebound, we believe that it is wise to wait and see.
Tesla has rebounded strongly since the beginning of this year, with its stock price more than doubling, allowing Musk to regain the title of the world's richest person. Meanwhile, according to Wall Street News, Tesla's shorts who bet against the stock this year have lost more than 78%, with a total loss of $12.4 billion.
Tesla's surge is related to the participation of multiple car companies in its charging network, and Tesla's charging piles are expected to "unify North America". In the heat of artificial intelligence, the market is full of expectations for Tesla's FSD autonomous driving technology, which puts it at the "crest of the wave". In addition, China will continue to optimize the new energy vehicle purchase tax exemption policy, and the total amount of vehicle purchase tax exemption from 2024 to 2027 will reach 520 billion yuan, which also boosts Tesla's stock price.
However, Tesla's recent surge has shown signs of cooling off, with the stock price falling more than 10% from its high point in just a few trading days. Elon Musk said this month that Tesla's market value will be determined by its autonomous driving technology. "The potential of autonomous driving is so high that even if you discount the probability of it being ultimately realized, it is still very valuable."