Tesla, Inc. TSLA shares fell in premarket trading on Tuesday amid rumors of weak electric-vehicle demand in China, one of the Elon Musk-led company’s key markets.
China Woes: Weekly China vehicle insurance registration data showed that Tesla sold 8,200 EVs in the country in the week of Feb 5-18, according to CnEVPost. This marked a decline from the 10,600 units the U.S. EV maker sold in China in the previous week.
Commenting on the numbers, GLJ Research’s Gordon Johnson said Tesla’s China sales have imploded in the past two weeks.
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Volume Rerating Coming? Johnson also noted that TroyTeslike, an X user who is known for his Tesla sales predictions, lowered his first-quarter delivery estimates for the company, citing continued struggles with the Model 3 Highland upgrade at the Fremont factory and dismal production of Cybertrucks. TroyTeslike now estimates a weekly production rate of 148 units, which translates to an annual rate of 7,400.
The GLJ Research analyst, who is bearish on Tesla, said this was only 3% of Tesla’s Cybertruck production capacity of 250,000 units per year, Johnson
With the cut made ahead of the China data, TroyTeslike’s first-quarter volume estimate stood at 465,000 units, Johnson said, adding that the current consensus estimate was at 477,872 units.
”We continue to see TSLA as among the best shorts in the stock market today as 2024, we believe, will show that making EV cars is not profitable,” Johnson said.
In premarket on Tuesday, Tesla fell 1.14% to $197.68, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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