Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Bumped Down to “Sell” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus set a $475.00 target price on Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Tesla from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Tesla from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $266.00 to $420.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $442.00 price objective on Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $408.61.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $372.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $364.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $377.22. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $297.38 and a fifty-two week high of $498.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 409.04, a P/E/G ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 1.92.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $28.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.06 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 3.03% and a net margin of 3.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Tesla will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.13, for a total value of $938,498.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,353,296.36. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 117,456,756 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $49,402,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,761,298 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Tesla by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 22,174,884 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $8,243,513,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727,141 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,535,612,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,083,630,000. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in Tesla by 5.0% during the second quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 12,524,752 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $5,267,911,000 after purchasing an additional 591,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Tesla News

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tesla beat third-quarter adjusted earnings expectations, reporting $0.48 per share versus the $0.45 consensus estimate, and generated approximately $1.5 billion in positive free cash flow. Tesla Surpasses Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Paid Full Self-Driving adoption exceeded 75% of North American deliveries, with subscriptions increasing 67% year over year. Investors view FSD, robotaxis, Optimus robots, and Megapack energy storage as potential long-term growth engines. Tesla’s FSD Subscriptions Surge
• Positive Sentiment: European sales reportedly strengthened, while Tesla is expanding its Cybercab robotaxi program beyond Austin and developing AI-based mapping from fleet data. These developments support the company’s autonomy narrative, although commercialization remains early. Tesla Europe Sales Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Elon Musk called a SpaceX-Tesla merger a “good idea,” and both companies reportedly formed special committees to study a combination. Potential benefits include shared work in AI, chips, robotics, connectivity, and energy, but no transaction is certain. SpaceX-Tesla Merger Chatter
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain divided: Morgan Stanley raised its target to $410 with an equal-weight rating, while RBC maintained an outperform rating and a $480 target. Bullish forecasts depend heavily on successful autonomy and robotics execution.
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue was essentially flat year over year at about $28 billion, automotive revenue fell 3%, energy-generation and storage revenue declined 16%, and GAAP operating income dropped 56%. Refunds and other factors also clouded the reported margin improvement. Tesla Automotive and Energy Revenue Results
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla reduced its 2026 capital-expenditure outlook from more than $25 billion to approximately $20 billion after third-quarter spending trailed expectations. Investors worry the pullback could delay AI, robotics, and robotaxi ambitions. Tesla Spending Pullback
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla will refund Cybertruck deposits in Australia and New Zealand, signaling reduced regional ambitions for the troubled vehicle. Regulatory scrutiny of the Cybercab and delays in unsupervised FSD add further execution risk.
• Negative Sentiment: The broader Nasdaq sell-off, renewed doubts about AI spending returns, higher oil prices, and geopolitical tensions have pressured high-valuation technology stocks, including TSLA.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc is an electric vehicle and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003, the company designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y and Cybertruck. Tesla also develops vehicle software, driver-assistance features and related services intended to support the operation and ownership of its vehicles.

Beyond automobiles, Tesla produces energy storage products for residential, commercial and utility-scale applications, including the Powerwall and Megapack.