Wall Street analysts were divided on electric vehicle maker Tesla after it posted its latest production and delivery numbers. Shares of Tesla were down 4.3% in Monday premarket trading after the company posted third-quarter vehicle production and delivery figures for 2022 that missed on deliveries expectations. Tesla reported deliveries of 343,000 vehicles, less than a StreetAccount estimate of 364,660 vehicles. The pullback in the stock price suggests investors are worried that the deliveries miss could point to weaker consumer demand ahead amid greater logistics issues. JPMorgan’s Ryan Brinkman held on to an underweight rating on Tesla, saying that the earnings miss was in line with the firm’s expectations, and said that Tesla’s “AI Day,” in which it showed future products such as its robot Optimus, was underwhelming. “We remain wary on valuation and continue to see large downside (-42%) to our price target, including on the potential for multiple compression amidst rising competition and less distinction vs. traditional automakers over time,” Brinkman wrote in a Monday note. Other analysts were less bearish on the stock. Goldman Sachs’ Mark Delaney maintained a buy rating on Tesla, even as he expected its stock price to pull back on the deliveries miss, saying that the company will continue to benefit from the long-term shift to electric vehicles. “[We] believe the company remains well positioned to drive solid volumes and also margins/FCF going forward, and the vehicles in transit issue is a mitigating factor for the 3Q delivery miss,” Delaney wrote in a Monday note. Meanwhile, Cowen’s Jeffrey Osborne had a market perform rating on the stock, pointing to the missed deliveries and production numbers. “Naysayers on the Tesla story will point to the shortfall in 3Q as a demand issue. We could be seeing the early signs of a demand issue but monthly registrations and 4Q results will need to be monitored to better assess the situation,” Osborne wrote. Here’s where other analysts stand on Tesla after the results: Baird: Outperform rating Canaccord Genuity: Buy AllianceBernstein: Underperform Oppenheimer: Outperform Wells Fargo: Equal Weight UBS: Buy — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
