Tesla shares are headed for a sharp correction and will see a decline that even new tech projects won’t be able to avoid, investor Danny Moses told CNBC.
Trader “The Big Short” and longtime bearish Tesla are backtracking on their bet against the EV maker, and he still expects Tesla shares to eventually hit $50, down 70% from existing levels of $171. In fact, the company’s ambitions in robotaxi and synthetic intelligence can only mask fragile business customers for so long.
The founder of Moses Ventures revealed a Tesla short last year, sparked by frustration over CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of X, formerly Twitter. According to Moses, this eroded Musk’s position over Tesla, at a time when many headwinds were building.
Moses refocused on Musk and explained why he remains pessimistic about the stock, which is already down roughly 33% year-to-date.
The stock briefly rallied after the CEO doubled down on his robotaxi and artificial intelligence plans on his first-quarter earnings call, however, Moses sees such announcements as a distraction from the company’s fundamentals.
“For someone who cares so much about the human race, he’s laying off a lot of humans right now and it’s all falling apart in his core business,” he said Sunday. “And what does he do? It shows everyone robotaxis, AI, autonomy and all that. “
Ahead of the release of its first-quarter results, many on Wall Street were also wary of the electric vehicle company, leading to plummeting delivery volumes and a bleak outlook for the sector.
The list of obstacles extends beyond its performance, Moses noted, noting that Tesla is now facing a Justice Department investigation into whether Tesla misled consumers and investors about the autonomous driving capabilities of its vehicles.
“The longer it spends here and the more strain its core business suffers, I think this resolve to open it up to robotaxis and AI will fade over time. Therefore, a market cap of between $150,000 and $50 is a moderate valuation. me,” he said.
While Moses considers Tesla his main short film, he promotes an independent self-driving company called Wayve. The company had recently raised $1 billion from major investors, including Nvidia and Bill Gates.
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