On November 11th, shares of Tesla Motors shot up to $29.36; a 73 percent increase over its IPO price. The previous day, JPMorgan Chase analyst Himanshu Patel, wrote "we are bullish on Tesla Motors as we believe it is at the vanguard of improving battery costs/durability." Tesla's shares continue to hover around the $30 mark, but Travis Hoium over at Motley Fool believes that optimism has pumped up TSLA's prices and sees a possible fall out ahead.
Hoium outlines three reasons (edited for brevity and clarity) why he believes that ridding yourself of Tesla stock – translation: sell it all now – is a move worthy of strong consideration:
- Delays: Tesla is projecting its next vehicle, the Model S, to be available in mid-2012. Tesla has high hopes for this model because it is a lower cost four-door sedan that may reach out to a wider audience. But product launches almost never go as planned and Tesla's own Roadster was also delayed nearly a year because of a variety of issues. There isn't much you can count on in new product development, but a delayed launch is one thing I will bet on any day.
- Competition: Tesla has been operating with virtually no competition to this point, but that's about to change. GM's Chevy Volt is hitting showrooms, Nissan's Leaf will be available next month, and the list goes on and on. Tesla has arguably the most compelling vehicles in the electric car business. A relatively small number of initial buyers, however, will be spread over a growing number of manufacturers.
- Value: Tesla is worth $2.7 billion and recently reported a quarterly loss of $34.9 million. The company isn't even expecting to report a profit until at least 2012, so there is a long wait for profitability.
And here's an obvious disclaimer: AutoblogGreen is an automotive site, not a financial one. The views and opinions expressed above are those of Motley Fool's Travis Hoium. We don't give stock advice, for that, we turn to the so-called "experts" in the financial field.
Comentário