Stock falls 7% on bearish Street report

Tesla shares fell 7.2 percent on Wednesday after a Wall Street analyst forecast that a sizable slowdown in growth could cut the electric-car maker’s stock price by nearly 50 percent.

As demand for Tesla’s Model 3 and Model X SUV plateau, annual growth should moderate to 5 percent, Goldman Sachs’ David Tamberrino wrote in a report to investors. That’s down from an earlier estimate of 13 percent.

As a result of what Tamberrino saw as weakening demand, he cut Tesla’s six-month price target to $180, down from $190.

Shares of the Palo Alto, Calif., company slipped to $327.09. Tamberrino’s price target would represent a 49 percent drop from Monday’s close.

In the recently ended second quarter, Tesla delivered 22,000 automobiles — short of Goldman Sachs’ estimate of 23,500 as well as the Wall Street consensus of 24,200.

“We remain sell rated on shares of [Tesla] where we see potential for downside as the Model 3 launch curve undershoots the company’s production targets and as [second half] margins likely disappoint,” Tamberrino wrote in his investor note.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said Monday that he expected the first Model 3’s — $35,000 sedans, the first Teslas aimed at a mass audience — to roll off the production line Friday.

The company has been plagued by production snafus that have cut into output. For example, in the first half, Tesla delivered 47,100 cars, at the low end of its estimated range of 47,000 to 50,000.

Tesla blamed the low number of deliveries on production snafus related to its 100 kWh battery packs.