Tesla briefly on Wednesday round-tripped Monday's 8.2% gain that followed the company's limited robotaxi service launch on Sunday. However, with second-quarter global vehicle deliveries data expected next week, the EV giant received an analyst price-target hike early Thursday. TSLA fell less than 1% on Thursday and continued to slide Friday.
Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg on Thursday raised the firm's price target on Tesla stock to 475 from 350 and kept a buy rating on the shares following the rollout of the robotaxi ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. That price target represents 45% upside compared to current trading levels.
Legg wrote Thursday that while the service was limited, it demonstrates "a controlled and safety-first approach." The analyst added that how Tesla wins over regulators and public opinion is "paramount and will allow a rapid scale up if achieved." Benchmark maintains Tesla as a "top pick" for the 2025 stock market.
It should be noted that Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service was last valued at $45 billion, while Tesla's robotaxi service prospects drive most of the EV giant's $1 trillion valuation.
Tesla stock dropped 0.6% to 323.79 during Friday's stock market, after falling 0.5% to 325.78 on Thursday. The stock ended week up 0.5% and is down 6.5% in June.
TSLA fell 3.8% to 327.55 on Wednesday. Intraday on Wednesday, TSLA briefly round-tripped Monday's 8.2% jump as bulls cheered the limited robotaxi launch.
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Forbes reported Thursday that Chief Executive Elon Musk has fired Omead Afshar, Tesla's head of operations in North America and Europe. Afshar began at Tesla in 2011 and, during his tenure, reportedly became one of Musk's top lieutenants and most trusted allies.
Deliveries Report Comes Next Week
Tesla is expected to report global second-quarter vehicle delivery and production data on Wednesday. The current consensus has Tesla vehicle deliveries of 390,000, which is 12% below a year ago but about 16% above the Q1 total, according to FactSet. However, since the beginning of June analyst delivery forecasts have ranged from 404,000-342,000.
RBC Capital on Thursday estimated Tesla will deliver 366,000 vehicles in Q2, with analysts noting the second quarter could be up sequentially versus the Q1 result of 337,000 deliveries as a result of refreshed Model Y availability and plants operating at greater capacity.
UBS analysts on Wednesday estimated that Tesla's Q2 vehicle sales will total 366,000 as demand is expected to remain challenging. The analysts noted that while quarter may not look great, the second-quarter earnings call is an opportunity for Musk "to focus on his future vision." UBS has a sell rating and a 215 price target on TSLA.
At the end of last year, when Tesla predicted 20%-30% EV delivery growth in 2025, the Q2 consensus was 502,000.
Tesla new car sales in Europe declined for the fifth straight month. The EV giant sold 13,863 cars in May in the European Union, the U.K. and the European Free Trade Association combined. New car registrations in the region declined 27.9% annually.
U.S. sales of Tesla vehicles in the U.S. fell 16% in April, according to recently released data from S&P Global Mobility. Meanwhile, through the first five months of 2025, Tesla vehicle sales in China's domestic market have fallen nearly 8% compared with the same period in 2024, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
For the full year, analysts expect Tesla to deliver 1.69 million vehicles, down 5.6% compared to 2024.
Troy Teslike, whose Tesla delivery tracking is highly regarded among retail Tesla stock investors, posted to X on Sunday that he does not believe Tesla will hit 1.60 million deliveries in 2025 and that the analyst consensus will come down in the "next 8 days."
How Tesla Stock Is Responding To The Robotaxi Launch
Tesla Stock Performance
TSLA stock could be building a short base within a much-bigger consolidation, according to MarketSurge charts. Tesla stock did close on Wednesday just above its 21-day exponential moving average. The stock is also above the 200-day moving average.
At Friday's close, Tesla stock has moved 37% higher on robotaxi bets following the April 22 Q1 conference call. Shares are down about 19% for the year, and 33% below their all-time high of 488.54.
Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 5.78%. The ATR metric, available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool, gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily stock market action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
Investors can keep tabs on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
Tesla stock has a 68 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The stock also has an 87 Relative Strength Rating and a 59 EPS Rating.
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