Those Tesla (TSLA) investors worried that Elon Musk would have nothing more to do with the company now that he is fully engaged on his Twitter reorganization project can take some solace, now that there is an actual verified account of him interacting with Tesla staff.
Electric Vehicle blog Electrek is reporting that CEO Elon Musk sent a year-end letter to all employees, thanking them for their hard work, and discussing the position of the company.
End of the year memos from the CEO are a regular, annual occurrence at Tesla. In past years, the billionaire has implored workers to volunteer to make last minute vehicle deliveries to customers, noting every single incremental shipment “will make a real difference.”
This year, as almost an afterthought, Musk added, “Don’t be too bothered by stock market craziness,” predicting that regardless of what happens now in the short term, he believes Tesla will one day be the most valuable company in the world.
Some observers have speculated that Musk addressed the recent aggressive decline in stock values because there may be grumbling within the company, since many employees are paid with stock-based compensation.
Musk noted the nearly 70% decline in Tesla’s share price this year has been due to the aggressive fiscal tightening by the Federal Reserve, and the consequent rising interest rates.
However many analysts have seen Musk’s recent distraction with his reorganization of social media giant Twitter as the primary reason for Tesla’s slide, combined with Musk’s massive stock sales, which he was forced to perform to finance his purchase of the social media giant. So far this year, Musk has sold $40 billion in Tesla stock, with $23 billion of that having just been sold since he announced his bid to buy Twitter in April.
In addition, the changing macro-economic environment has not helped. As the global economy is cooling, demand concerns are creeping up, forcing Tesla to cut prices in both the US and China in an effort to boost sales.
However some analysts are still bullish on the Electric Vehicle maker, based off the company’s fundamentals.
Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley has just reiterated his Outperform rating on the company, though he did reduce his price target from $330 to $250 due to comments from the founder which reflected weakening demand.
However Jonas points to the company’s valuation, cash flow, innovation, and cost controls as reasons behind maintaining his rating. Jonas said, “Tesla may be in position to extend its lead vs. the EV competition.”
