Tesla stock tumbles as bullish analyst throws in the towel, blaming tariffs and Elon Musk

Tesla (TSLA) bull Dan Ives finally threw in the towel, slashing his price target and citing Trump’s auto tariffs and CEO Elon Musk’s White House role as the reasons why.

The Wedbush analyst maintained his Outperform rating but dropped his price target to $315 from $550, a nearly 43% haircut.

“The economic tariff Armageddon unleashed by the Trump Administration is a double whammy for Tesla in our view,” Ives said in his note, adding that despite not being as exposed as rivals like GM and Ford, sourcing parts such as battery cells from China will be a problem.

Tesla stock tumbled as much as 4% at the open but rebounded briefly on refuted news that Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs. Shares were down more than 5% in midmorning trade.

Read more about Tesla’s stock moves and today’s market action.

Nevertheless, Ives cited Tesla’s ongoing brand issues as most concerning.

“Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally … and that is a very bad thing for the future of this disruptive tech stalwart and the brand crisis tornado that has now turned into an F5 tornado,” Ives wrote, alluding to Musk’s political forays both in the US and abroad.

He added, “We now estimate Tesla has lost/destroyed at least 10% of its future customer base globally based on self created brand issues and this could be a conservative estimate. In Europe, this number could be 20% or higher …. all self-inflicted by Musk.”

It’s not the first time Ives has complained about Musk’s political involvement and asked for the CEO to focus more on his companies, but here Ives is clearly putting the blame on Tesla’’s deteriorating brand image solely on Musk.

Ives cites the ongoing news of protests at Tesla showrooms around the world leading to a “dark black cloud” over the company’s stock, which is now down 43% year to date.

Furthermore, the analyst stresses that Tesla’s China business — a key region for the “future success” of Tesla — is under threat because of Trump’s steep tariffs on China and Musk’s closeness to the president. Ives predicts more and more Chinese consumers will shift to buying domestic EVs from BYD, Nio, XPeng, and other automakers.

While Tesla Model Y sales did rebound in March due to the refreshed EV’s availability in showrooms, overall the company’s China-made EV sales dropped 11.5% in the month.

Globally, Tesla reported a Q1 sales slump of 336,681 deliveries versus 390,342 estimated, making it the worst quarter for deliveries since the second quarter of 2022.

“This is a full blown crisis Tesla is navigating now (along with these tariffs), and it is time for Musk to step up, read the room, and be a leader in this time of uncertainty.”