This post was originally published on this site
Tesla is swerving lower again Friday.
Its stock is falling and now down 8% this week after a third fatal crash involving its autopilot function embroiled the electric carmaker in bad press. Those losses added to a 34% slump in 2019, putting it on track to post its worst annual drop ever.
Wall Street is turning on the stock too. Just this month, Tesla has received 12 analyst price target cuts. Evercore, for example, reduced its price target to $200 “on valuation and lower delivery estimates across all models.”
MKM Partners’ JC O’Hara agrees that the stock could have further to fall.
“Any time you have major support that breaks, the next key is you have to look for where’s the next downside level,” O’Hara said Thursday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation. ” “We see some support at $215, but there’s really not major support until $185, so that’s some big downside right here.”
Tesla is less than 2% from that $215 level. A decline to $185 would mark a 15% drop.
“We think the downside risks far outweigh any sort of oversold bounce because, again, broken support turns to new resistance. So we have major resistance at $250 now, with the next support on the downside at $185,” said O’Hara. “This is a chart we just want to avoid altogether.”
Tesla broke and closed below $250 in late April for the first time since March 2017.
John Petrides of Point View Wealth Management says while the stock is coming down from “ridiculously high” levels, operational headwinds remain for the company.
“The company has been unable to show sustainable cash-flow generation. They have balance-sheet issues. You have board members that are not seeking reelection, key members of the team are leaving, [CEO] Elon Musk is a wildcard, competition in the e-car market is coming on board,” he said during the same segment. “The stock and the company is a mess, and I think this stock could fall lower.”
Tesla had not responded to a request for comment by time of publication.
