Elon Musk laughed at the analyst’s remark
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk on Friday laughed at Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi‘s latest comments on the company’s performance.
What Happened: To justify Tesla’s stock price, investors have to believe it “can achieve very high volumes and high operating margins, akin to technology or software companies, not traditional auto companies,” Sacconaghi said, as reported by Bloomberg. Tesla is increasingly looking like a regular auto company, he added.
The CEO responded with a cryptic laughing emoji at the comment highlighted on X by a Tesla shareholder.
Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi: "To justify Tesla’s stock price, investors have to believe it “can achieve very high volumes and high operating margins, akin to technology or software companies, not traditional auto companies; Tesla is increasingly looking like a regular auto…
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 20, 2023
X Reacts: X users and Tesla enthusiasts seemingly took offense at the analyst’s take.
“It’s been proven Tesla is a “car” company. Toni nailed it,” a user wrote.
“That proves that he lives in a total vacuum. The “regular car companies” he refers to are in the middle of dying out quicker because of the UAW strikes,” another said, referring to the ongoing workers’ strike against the Detroit three automakers.
“Yep – all auto companies have a sister company that launches rockets into space… and build their own chips… and supercomputers… and robots… and OS…,” yet another wrote.
Sacconaghi has an ‘underperform’ rating on Tesla with a price target of $150.