[이데일리 이정훈 기자] As demand for electric vehicles will decrease this year, even Tesla (TSLA), the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, will need to lower prices in order to sell cars, and a negative outlook came from Wall Street that it may have to lower prices further in the future.
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According to CNBC, an American economic media outlet, on the 7th (local time), analyst Tony Sakonagi Bernstein, who has long been a bear bearer of Tesla, mentioned the need for such a price cut through a report that day, and his investment opinion on Tesla was ‘below the market return’. Underperform)’. With a target price of $150, it suggests a further 16% decline from the current share price.
In the report, Analyst Sakonagi lowered Tesla’s earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of this year and for the fiscal year 2023, saying, “Tesla needs to further cut car prices in order to boost demand for electric vehicle sales.”
“Tesla seems to be increasingly having a problem with demand (slowing),” he said. “Already the company is responding to electric vehicles for delivery in December by reducing product prices in the US and China and reducing production in China.” . In fact, Tesla cut the price of electric vehicles in China and the United States, resulting in an average selling price of $1,400 or 2.6% lower than before.
Analyst Sakonagi explained, “These price cuts were due to intensifying competition among electric car makers and Tesla’s expensive yet simple product lineup. We are holding back our performance,” he said.
In addition, he said, “Tesla may need to cut more prices than this December to boost demand in China. It will need to be taken down,” he foresaw.
Analyst Sakonagi, who predicted that the average selling price of an electric car in the US might drop from the current level of $53,000 to the level of $50,000 in the third quarter of next year, said, “There is a possibility that Tesla will release a cheaper SR ‘Model Y’ in the United States. There is also,” he expected.
However, Sakonagi analysts saw potential variables that might help Tesla reduce losses due to continued product price cuts. He expected to be able to improve margins by regarding $900 per EV at plants in Texas and Berlin, and offset the price cut by $2,000 to $3,600 with reduced production costs, improved operating costs, and tax credits under the IRA Act.
However, he predicted that Tesla would post $25.3 billion in revenue and $1.17 in earnings per share (EPS) in the fourth quarter, which was lower than Wall Street’s forecast. Annual sales and EPS were $111 billion or $4.96, almost in line with Wall Street projections.
