Baird is moving to the sidelines on Tesla . While the firm is holding on to its outperform rating, it labeled the electric vehicle stock a “bearish fresh pick” on Thursday, predicting risk for the shares through its first-quarter delivery report. So far this year, Telsa has been underperforming the broader market. Analyst Ben Kallo lowered his price target to $370 per share from $440. That is about 33% above Wednesday’s $279.10 close, which means Baird’s new target assumes the stock will be able to recoup its year-to-date losses. TSLA YTD mountain Tesla stock. Kallo said the Model Y refresh could lead to a potential miss for first-quarter deliveries. He also sees CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to President Donald Trump as a lingering headwind for the company. “Intra-quarter sales data from TSLA’s key regions lead us to believe there is risk to the consensus Q1 delivery estimate of 437.5K,” Kallo said. “Production downtime associated with the Model Y refresh complicates the supply-side of the equation while at the same time, Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration adds uncertainty to the demand-side.” “We believe Musk’s involvement with DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] and the Trump administration broadly may affect some buyers in the U.S. and Europe, which complicates the setup from a demand perspective,” Kallo added. “Even if demand isn’t impacted, we expect the narrative of potential demand destruction to continue.” The analyst noted that he remains optimistic on Tesla over the long term, due to potential growth drivers including the company’s robotaxi initiatives and full self-driving capabilities. Musk has been promising that FSD would be available in Tesla vehicles for more than 10 years.
