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TAKEAWAYS KEY
- Long-time Tesla bull Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, says Elon Musk is the only one who can turn the EV maker's reputation around and the billionaire needs to show he is balancing his role running DOGE and the U.S. car maker.
- "Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it…Musk," Wedbush analysts wrote.
- Tesla shares lost more than 40% in value this year.
Dan Ives is a long-time Tesla (TSLA), bull. He is an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Elon Musk, he says, is the only person who can change the reputation of the EV maker. The billionaire must show that he is balancing both his role with the Department of Government Efficiency, and the U.S. automaker.
Ives and two other Wedbush analyst’s reaffirmed their outperform rating for Tesla, as well as their $550 price target, on Wednesday. However, the analysts noted that the company is suffering a “brand tornado crisis” due to a political backlash from Musk’s work with DOGE—the Trump administration’s cost-cutting agency.
To "change the narrative” around the stock, Musk needs to “formally announce (he) is going to balance DOGE and being Tesla CEO," Analysts said. Analysts say that a statement such as this could prevent permanent brand damage to the U.S. automobile manufacturer.
Analysts said that Musk should also provide investors with a roadmap and timing for the lower-cost EVs Tesla plans to release this year, as well as information on the June rollout of full unsupervised self-driving.
"Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it…Musk," the analysts wrote.
Tesla shares are down 40% this year. This is due to the investor backlash and the perception that Musk’s DOGE role is distracting him from running the EV manufacturer. Tesla’s sales in the U.S. and China have also been slowing.
Tesla shares are down over 1% Thursday.
