Goldman Sachs has warned that intensifying competition on the EV market plus Tesla’s high debt load would make life for the company more difficult in the future, CNN reports, citing an update from the investment bank on Tesla, in which Goldman reiterated its “sell” rating on the company’s stock and set a US$210 price target. Yesterday, Tesla closed at US$288.95.
In a note to clients, the bank’s analysts wrote that they remained pessimistic about Tesla’s ability to ramp up production and turn in positive cash flow—something CEO Elon Musk promised will happen by the end of this year.
"We see the medium-to-longer term industry backdrop as challenging for Tesla's products; this follows from an increasing number of EV launches from both traditional OEMs and other start-up competitors — at a time when the company's product cadence hits a gap," Goldman analyst David Tamberrino wrote in the note to clients as quoted by CNBC. "We believe the company will see pressure to its lead in EVs as competition catches up."
Tesla has indeed had trouble meeting its own production ramp-up deadlines, which explains analysts’ skepticism regarding future production. Yet the latest reports from the Tesla camp suggest things might be looking up. Earlier this week, sources from the company told Electrek that Tesla had failed to ramp up its Model 3 weekly production to its own set target of 6,000 for August. However, the company’s overall Model 3 target for the quarter – 50,000 to 55,000 cars – is still within reach, with 34,700 Model 3s produced since the start of the third quarter.
At the release of the company’s second-quarter results, which featured higher revenues but another net loss, Musk said he expected Tesla to turn in a profit in both the current quarter and the next, adding that he saw no need to raise more funds, rejecting analyst forecasts that the carmaker needs an urgent cash injection to stay afloat.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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