Tesla stock was falling early Tuesday. Analysts remain split on the company's robotaxis, while one warns investors not to forget about the car business.
Shares of the electric vehicle maker were down 2% at $322.61 in early trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3%.
The early move left Tesla stock down about 60 cents for the week. Everyone is waiting for the launch of Tesla's self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas, scheduled for June 22, according to CEO Elon Musk.
How shares will react to the launch is anyone's guess. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson wrote recently the launch should be "largely anticlimactic and lacking the fanfare of last October's Robotaxi Day."
A lot of good news is already priced into shares. Coming into Tuesday trading, Tesla stock was up almost 40% since the company's first-quarter earnings conference call when management said Tesla was on track for a June robotaxi launch.
After the launch, Nelson is focused on how the taxis perform. He rates shares Hold and has a $320 price target for the stock. Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter rates shares Buy and has a $400 price target for Tesla stock.
He feels differently from Nelson. "We expect the stock to sustain upward momentum in the coming weeks as more information is disclosed," wrote Potter recently.
Then, some analysts are worried about the car business. Tesla is expected to deliver about 400,000 cars in the second quarter, according to FactSet -- down 10% compared with the 444,000 delivered in the second quarter of 2024. The decline comes after deliveries dropped 13% in the first quarter.
"Fundamentals are coming in worse than we expected," wrote Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan in a Tuesday report. He added that, following U.S. President Donald Trump's elimination of a waiver that allows California to regulate its air emission, Tesla is facing fewer zero-emission vehicle credit sales -- and that could weigh on earnings and free cash flow.
Langan rates Tesla stock Sell and has a $120 price target for shares.
All three analysts seem to have very different opinions on the stock. That isn't unusual for Tesla. Take Wall Street price targets. The average analyst price target is about $308 a share.
That average doesn't mean all that much, though. Price targets range from roughly $100 to $500 a share. The $400 spread is more than 100% of the current stock price. The spread for Alphabet stock is about $75 a share, or about 40% of the current stock price.
Tesla stock is always controversial. The robotaxi launch is keeping it that way.
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