Elon Musk’s Twitter antics add to negative sentiment on Tesla - Morgan Stanley

Michael Gonzalez

According to a survey conducted by Morgan Stanley, a bulk of investors are distressed by the drag on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares driven by Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase.

About 75% of respondents to the bank’s survey indicated that the Twitter (TWTR) purchase has been a major contributor to the steep slide for Tesla (TSLA) shares as of late, with 65% also indicating the acquisition will have a “negative or slightly negative impact on Tesla's business going forward.” By contrast, only 5% said the acquisition is likely to be positive for the automaker’s business.

“Our investor survey reinforces our views that Elon Musk's recent involvement with Twitter has contributed to negative sentiment momentum in Tesla shares and could drive some degree of adverse downside skew to Tesla fundamentals,” equity analyst Adam Jonas commented.

Nonetheless, Jonas maintained his Buy recommendation for Tesla (TSLA). He advised that there is significant upside to the stock should the stock tumble towards his bear case of $150. A further slide toward that level would represent a promising “window of buying opportunity,” in his view.

“Tesla is the only self-funding pure play EV name we cover and has achieved a unique position to secure supply of the battery metals and related up-stream supply necessary to produce EVs at multi-million-unit scale,” he explained. “In a slowing economic environment, we believe Tesla’s 'gap to competition’ can potentially widen, particularly as EV prices pivot from inflationary to deflationary. The current price offers approximately 80% potential upside to our $330 price target which is the highest upside to target we have seen from Tesla in over 5 years.”

Shares of the Austin-based EV manufacturer rose 0.55% shortly after Tuesday’s market open.

Read more on the company’s efforts to lower production costs.