What a difference a couple of weeks make. After hitting an all-time high in late June, Tesla shares have collapsed 18 percent, if Thursday’s premarket trading level holds, due to mounting concerns about its sales results, competition and the safety of its cars.
The electric car maker’s stock fell 3 percent in Thursday premarket trading, bringing loses to more than 12 percent for the week.
Multiple Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs, Bernstein, KeyBanc Capital and Cowen expressed disappointment over Tesla’s second quarter deliveries result in notes to clients the last two days.
Goldman analyst David Tamberrino cited how Tesla’s second quarter deliveries number released Monday of approximately 22,000 cars missed his forecast of 23,500 and the Wall Street consensus of 24,200.
Tesla blamed a production issue with its 100 kilowatt-hour battery packs for the second quarter deliveries shortfall.
“Tesla’s Q2 production and deliveries report raised more questions than answers, particularly about Model S and X demand,” Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.
Following the weaker than expected deliveries number, Volvo announced Wednesday it will phase-out combustion-engine-only cars. The automaker’s new cars will be all electric or hybrid by 2019.
“This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car,” Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said, according to a Reuters report.
The Volvo news comes soon after a Handelsblatt Global article last week, which said BMW plans to introduce an electric version of its popular 3-Series line of sedans later this year.
In addition to the rising competition, one of the key selling points for Tesla’s cars is now being called into doubt.
On Thursday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Dave Zuby questioned Tesla’s claim that the Model S is the safest car in history after series of new crash tests.
“If you’re looking for top-line safety, we believe there are other, better choices than the Model S,” Zuby told CNBC.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. Its shares are up 53 percent this year versus the S&P 500’s 8.7 percent return through Wednesday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had bigger concerns than the company’s falling stock price Thursday morning.
Tesla shares are breaking down this week, down 12 percent on mounting concerns about the cult stock