Tesla Bulls Face 'Gut Check Moment' As Musk, DOGE Distract From Stock: Analyst

Tesla Inc TSLA stock suffered one of its biggest one-day falls Monday with shares down 15%.

Despite the short-term pressure — declining sales, protests and CEO Elon Musk's time commitment to the Department of Government Efficiency — a well-known analyst remains optimistic.

Wedbush: Tesla stock and the thesis has been here many times before, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a new investor note.

"Today's brutal Tesla sell-off will go down in the history books for Tesla investors and a painful day for the bulls (including us)," Ives said in a note Monday.

Despite the selloff and protests at Tesla dealerships over the weekend, Ives’ thesis and bullish view remain unchanged. He maintained an Outperform rating and price target of $550, which was announced previously in January.

According to Ives, the protests and violence at dealerships, plus Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration with DOGE, are distractions. As a result, it’s a "horrific 2025" for Tesla to date, he said.

"If every time we threw in the white towel on the Tesla name when it got hot in the kitchen, we would have missed one of the most transformational growth stories in modern history,” he added.

Ives said it is not a pleasant time for Tesla bulls. The Musk/DOGE distractions and brand issues are creating a "black cloud" over Tesla stock.

"This is a gut check moment for the Tesla bulls (including ourselves) after this massive sell-off in Tesla shares with fears mounting/accelerating,” Ives said. He expects Musk to better balance his time between DOGE, Tesla and SpaceX over the rest of 2025, and concerns over his distractions to fade.

"We continue to believe the best thing that ever happened to Musk/Tesla was Trump in the White House as this will create a deregulatory environment with a federal autonomous roadmap central to the tesla strategic vision."

Ives said Tesla is still at the start of one of the biggest innovation and technology cycles in company history with a sub-$35,000 new vehicle, unsupervised FSD launching and autonomous vehicles.

The analyst said the new sub-$35,000 model could help "drive pent-up EV consumer demand globally and get Tesla back on the growth track."

Ives said the autonomous transition will be the biggest automotive industry transformation in modern day history with Tesla being a leader in the U.S. and globally.

"We believe autonomous and Optimus will represent 90% of the valuation of the Tesla story and create a company with a valuation that exceeds $2 trillion."

Canaccord Genuity: With declining sales in Europe and other parts of the world, concerns about demand for Tesla vehicles continues. This is something Canaccord analyst George Gianarikas might be trying to get a better handle on with a new consumer survey.

"A cavalcade of data has emerged in 2025 suggesting Tesla sales are quite sluggish thus far in the quarter," Gianarikas said.

The analyst maintained a Buy rating and price target of $404.

Canaccord is asking consumers to respond to a survey by Thursday, March 13 with a question of, "are you just as, more, or less likely to buy a Tesla than you were a year ago?"

The survey also asks which item is the biggest determining factor in being less or more likely to buy a Tesla with price and politics among the possible answers.

Some consumers might be delaying their Tesla purchases for the new Model Y, Gianarikas said. "We wonder whether purchase decision delays and production limitations are being misinterpreted as halted overall momentum for Tesla,” he added.

The poll results provide a better look at why consumers are less likely to buy a Tesla vehicle today.

Price Action: Tesla stock is up 2.3% on Tuesday to $227.25 versus a 52-week trading range of $138.80 to $488.54. Tesla stock is down 40.1% year-to-date in 2025 and up 28.0% over the last year.

Tesla stock is now trading below where it was when Trump won the 2024 election. Tesla stock closed at $251.44 on Nov. 5 and opened for trading at $284.67 on Nov. 6 after Trump's victory was confirmed.

The stock is down over 50% from all-time highs set in December.

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