Shares of electric car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) have been in a free fall in recent months. It finished 2022 down more than 60%. That’s a sharp turnaround from the 50% gains it achieved a year earlier. The selloff has been so extreme that the stock was in oversold territory on the last trading day of 2022.
At a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of around 28, the stock’s momentum indicator has been improving in recent days but it still remained below the cutoff of 30 to indicate that it was oversold. RSI evaluates a stock’s recent trading activity, typically the last 14 days, and when there have been significantly more losses than gains, it tells investors the stock is oversold. But that doesn’t mean, however, that the stock is overdue for a recovery.
There are multiple reasons investors are concerned about Tesla. For one, CEO Elon Musk has been diverting attention away to his recent purchase of Twitter, making investors question the leadership and how much of a priority Tesla may be for him these days. Another big concern is that with a possible recession looming just months away, there could also be further pressure on the company’s financials as demand could weaken, leading to some potentially underwhelming results in the quarters ahead.
The company’s sales were up 56% in the most recent quarter and that is certainly encouraging. But forward-looking investors remain concerned about what’s ahead, and the ability for the company to keep that growth rate up.
As a result, despite the tailspin in the stock of late, investors shouldn’t rush out to buy shares of Tesla as there could be worse declines ahead.