Cybertruck A 'Moonshot' For Tesla? Divisive New EV Represents 5% Of Revenue, Zero Profit In 2025 For Automaker: Analysts

Electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc TSLA highlighted the first deliveries of its highly anticipated Cybertruck electric pickup truck at an event Thursday.

Analysts reacted to the event, details of the Cybertruck and the first announced pricing of the new vehicle, which currently ranged from $60,990 to $99,990.

The Tesla Analysts: Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney had a Neutral rating and a price target of $235.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas had an Overweight rating and a price target of $380.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan had an Outperform rating and a price target of $301.

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Goldman Sachs on Tesla: The capabilities like 0-60 mph acceleration were impressive, according to Delaney.

"We believe the key focus for investors will be on how fast it ramps up, with strong consumer interest, but also potential headwinds from the premium price point and manufacturability," Delaney said.

The analyst guided for 50,000 units delivered in 2024 despite a higher than what some were expecting price point for the vehicle.

"We believe Cybertruck generally compares well to other EV pickup trucks."

The analyst compared prices and specs to vehicles from Ford Motor Co F and Rivian Automotive RIVN.

"We see valuation as full, and lower vehicle pricing to help support higher volumes could remain a headwind in 2024."

Morgan Stanley on Tesla: The launch of the Cybertruck was exciting, but could need perspective, Joans said in a new note.

The analyst forecasted 30,000 units delivered in fiscal 2024 and 78,000 units delivered in fiscal 2025 for the Cybertruck.

"We expect Cybertruck will be supplemented by a range of Rivian-looking pickups and SUVs in the latter part of the decade with a design language more consistent with prevailing Teslas," Jonas said.

Jonas said the Cybertruck could account for less than 5% of Tesla's revenue and close to 0% of profit by 2025.

"A part of Tesla's brand allure and engineering philosophy involves following through on various ‘moonshot' projects."

RBC Capital Markets on Tesla: Details of the Cybertruck were largely as expected for Narayan.

The analyst questioned what happened on price, with the cheapest version of the Cybertruck starting at $60,990, which is 56% higher than the starting price previously announced in 2019.

"This pricing is at the high end of what we expected, and supports our view that conversion rate on the 1 million+ reservations will be low, likely under 20%," Narayan said.

The analyst said pricing could come down after deliveries to early adopters are completed. The pricing also compared favorably to Ford and Rivian, the analyst noted.

"We don't expect Cybertruck to be much of a margin headwind in 2024. Cybertruck is more of a ‘halo’ product, in our view, to attract consumers to the brand for the mainstream vehicles Model 3 and Model Y."

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares are down 0.49% to $238.96 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $101.81 to $299.29.

Read Next: Tesla Analysts Groan At Cybertruck’s Final Pricing

Photo: Courtesy Tesla