Tesla Bear Ronnie Moas Has No Reason To Change His Sell Rating Just Yet

Standpoint' Ronnie Moas was a guest on CNBC to discuss why he has no plans to change his Sell rating on Tesla Motors Inc TSLA.

Moas noted his Sell rating dates back to April 7 when shares of Tesla were trading north of $260 per share. At that time, he placed a $180 price target on the stock.

He did, however, state a change in rating may be justified if Tesla's stock were to re-test its 52-week low of $141.05.

Moas said Tesla's shareholders should feel "upset" following the company's announcement it intends to acquire SolarCity Corp SCTY.

"If it wasn't this news, it would have been something else that would bring Tesla down," Moas added. "This was a bail-out of a company that [Tesla's CEO and SolarCity's Chairman Elon] Musk owns 20 percent of. SolarCity was on life support 24 hours ago."

Related Link: Chowdhry: Buy Tesla On Weakness

Moas pointed out SolarCity is holding $6 billion worth of debt and liabilities so the deal "just doesn't make any sense."

Meanwhile, several analysts on Wall Street are calling for Tesla's stock to rise to $300 per share. This figure implies a similar valuation as General Motors Company GM but the Detroit-based automaker makes $10 billion in profit while Tesla can't even claim $10 billion in revenue.

Musk did concede it's possible Tesla's stock could greatly appreciate over the next 10 years, but it's too expensive today.

Bottom line, Moas said he is immense respect for Musk but there are hundreds of stocks that could double over the next 10 years "without the downside risk that Tesla has."

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
date
ticker
name
Price Target
Upside/Downside
Recommendation
Firm
Posted In: Analyst ColorCNBCAnalyst RatingsMediaCNBC Halftime ReportElon MuskRonnie MoasTeslaTesla Acquisition SolarCityTesla Bear
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!