Investor Danny Moses conveyed his staunch skepticism regarding Tesla’s trajectory, foreseeing a substantial downturn that even the company’s newest technological endeavors won’t be able to circumvent. Moses, renowned for his role in “The Big Short,” has maintained his bearish stance on the electric vehicle manufacturer, predicting Tesla’s shares to plummet to $50, marking a staggering 70% decrease from their current valuation of $171. His rationale stems from a belief that Tesla’s aspirations in robotaxi services and artificial intelligence can only obscure underlying business challenges for a limited duration.
The founder of Moses Ventures initiated a short position against Tesla last year, driven by his frustration over CEO Elon Musk’s diversions, notably his involvement with X, formerly Twitter. Moses perceives such endeavors as detracting from Musk’s focus on Tesla, particularly amidst mounting adversities.
Moses reiterated his pessimism towards Tesla, attributing it primarily to Musk’s leadership, amidst a year-to-date decline of nearly 33% in Tesla’s stock value. Despite a brief uptick following Musk’s reaffirmation of robotaxi and AI initiatives during the first-quarter earnings call, Moses views such announcements as deflecting attention from the company’s fundamental weaknesses.
Expressing concerns about Tesla’s declining delivery volumes and the industry’s subdued outlook, many analysts on Wall Street had already adopted a cautious stance towards the EV giant even before the first-quarter results. Moses accentuated a myriad of challenges confronting Tesla, including an ongoing Department of Justice investigation probing potential misrepresentation of the self-driving capabilities of its vehicles.
Anticipating a fading allure of Tesla’s ventures into autonomous technology amidst escalating pressures on its core operations, Moses deems a $150 billion market capitalization at $50 per share as a reasonable valuation. While maintaining Tesla as his primary short position, Moses endorsed Wayve, an autonomous driving startup that recently secured a significant investment of $1 billion from prominent backers, including Nvidia and Bill Gates.
