Tesla extends slump

TESLA Inc. shares fell more than 14 percent after the electric carmaker delivered fewer vehicles than expected last quarter despite offering hefty incentives in its biggest markets.

the company said Monday it handed over 405,278 vehicles to customers in the last three months, short of the 420,760 average estimate compiled by Bloomberg. While the total was a quarterly record for tesla, the company opened two new assembly plants last year and still came up short of its goal to expand by 50 percent. It’s also the third straight quarter that deliveries have missed estimates. Several analysts cut price targets on the stock tuesday, resulting in tesla’s lowest average 12-month stock forecast since october 2021. And Jpmorgan Chase & Co. said tesla might never again reach its multiyear 50 percent growth sales objective.

“our base case assumption is that year-on-year growth (while remaining impressive overall) is likely to decline each year from here on out,” analyst ryan Brinkman, who has the equivalent of a sell rating on the shares, wrote in a research note. tesla’s double-digit decline to $105.60 just before 12:00 p.m. in new York—the steepest drop since September 2020—comes on the heels of a dismal 2022 for the stock. In December, its shares plunged 37 percent and closed out the year with a record 65 percent tumble.

After Ceo elon Musk predicted an “epic” end to the year, tesla cut vehicle prices and production in China, then offered $7,500 discounts in the United States. Concerns about rising interest rates, inflation and other economic headwinds—plus alarm over Musk ’s antics on twitter, which he now owns—sent tesla shares plunging 37 percent in December and 65 percent last year.bloomberg