Elon Musk’s growth story is looking more like a fable as Tesla Inc. enters survival mode.
Tesla chief Elon Musk in March, showing off a crossover Model Y. It was unclear where the capital to build the car would come from as Musk embarked on a"hardcore" cost-cutting drive to meet current expenses. Just over two weeks ago, Musk boasted to stock analysts and big investors that the company was on course to reach half a trillion dollars in market value. Since then, Tesla’s stock price has dropped 19.5%, vaporizing $8.8 billion in market value.
A storm was already brewing in January when Musk announced that 2,500 workers, 7% of the workforce, would be laid off. That came after 9% were laid off the previous June, with Musk saying, “We are making this hard decision now so we never have to do this again.” After two profitable quarters in late 2018, it seemed the time had come for Musk toon his promise to deliver a mass-market car efficiently and profitably. Then came the first quarter from hell.
While cash on hand fell to $2.2 billion at the end of the quarter, what many analysts saw as a dangerously low level, Musk raised some more. On the May 3 call about that stock-and-bond deal, Musk told investors, “We don't expect to spend this capital. We expect to fund our activity out of our growing cash flow” as a “buffer” to a possible recession or automobile industry downturn.to employees on Thursday that prompted the stock-price smack-down.
T. Rowe Price, once one of Tesla’s largest investors, announced in government filings last week that it had cut its Tesla stake by 81% in the first quarter, further pressuring Tesla’s stock premium. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, a longtime Tesla cheerleader, now has a $230 target price on Tesla. In anJonas said potential sales to China could be cut by half due to the trade war. The overall auto market in China already is seeing a sales decline for the first time in a generation.
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