Vertical Group says Tesla running out of car buyers, cuts price target to $54 - InvestingChannel

Vertical Group says Tesla running out of car buyers, cuts price target to $54

Tesla is running out of people who want to buy its cars, Vertical Group analyst Gordon Johnson tells investors in a research note following the company’s Q1 deliveries report. Despite nearly fully exhausting its European backlog, opening up China to the Model 3, and “large/unexpected” price cuts across all U.S. models, Tesla’s Q1 deliveries fell a record 31% quarter-over-quarter, Johnson says. Further, the analyst sees Tesla’s 2019 deliveries coming in closer to 244,000 units, or down 0.4% relative to 2018, well below the company’s guidance of 370,000-400,000 vehicles. He notes Tesla’s unsold inventory “surged” 51% quarter-over-quarter to a record 18,879 cars in Q1. Johnson keeps a Sell rating on the Tesla and cut his price target for the shares to $54 from $72. The stock closed yesterday down 8%, or $24.03, to $267.78.