Al Root

Tesla stock was falling again in early trading Monday it tries to snap an ignominious streak this week.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker were dropping 1.9% in premarket trading at $245.37, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both falling about 0.6%.

Coming into Monday, Tesla stock dropped for eight consecutive weeks -- losing 41% over that span. It's the worst weekly losing streak for the stock, ever.

Tesla shares have had some epic losing -- and winning -- streaks.

Shares dropped for five consecutive weeks in 2024 and six weeks in 2023, according to FactSet data. Shares dropped for 12 out of 16 weeks at one point in 2022. But there hadn't been an eight-week losing streak until 2025.

Tesla stock rose for 11 consecutive weeks starting in August 2021. That's only good enough for third place. Shares gained for 12 consecutive weeks twice. Once in 2013 and once in 2019.

The eight-week decline was partly fueled by an epic postelection rise. Shares went from roughly $250 to $490 from early November to mid-December. Investors were hopeful that a second term in office for President Donald Trump would benefit the auto maker, partly by making regulations designed to usher in an era of self-driving cars. Tesla plans to launch an autonomous robotaxi service in 2025.

But CEO Elon Musk's political activities have created some anxiety for investors. Tesla sales in the U.S., Europe, and China were weak to start the year. It might not all be Musk. RBC analyst Tom Narayan pointed out that the Model Y changeover explains part of the weakness. Tesla recently updated its most popular vehicle and is ramping up production of the new Y. There is typically an air pocket when sales of an old car model fall as buyers wait for the upgrade.

Narayan rates Tesla shares Buy and has a $440 price target for the stock. AI-trained self-driving cars represent about 57% of his price target. Selling advanced driver assistance features to Tesla drivers represents another 25%. The base car business only represents 9% of his target, or about $40 a share.

That's one way an analyst breaks down the difference between self-driving technology and building cars. Overall, 48% of analysts covering Tesla stock rate shares Buy. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst target price for Tesla stock is about $370.

The average target price is almost 50% higher than Friday's closing level. That rise would be great, but investors would take any move in the green this week.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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March 17, 2025 04:53 ET (08:53 GMT)

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