Tesla (TSLA) stockholders have been through the ringer this year
Pulverized by falling sales, political sideshows, and the competition chomping away at its lead, Elon Musk’s EV behemoth hasn’t given Tesla bulls much to cheer about lately.
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However, a key update suggests things could potentially turn around.
With Wall Street’s patience wearing thin, even the slightest hint of stability could propel the EV giant ahead and help it regain its footing.
Tesla’s 2025: A year of robotaxis, feuds, and fading shine
Tesla’s 2025 has been mostly a bruising cautionary tale.
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Perhaps the biggest headline this year for the EV pioneer has been its long-hyped robotaxi push.
Following years of teasing and bold predictions from Musk, Tesla finally launched a pilot fleet in Austin in late June.
In that, we saw a handful of Model Ys zipping around a tight geofenced zone, at just $4.20 a ride under the watchful eyes of safety monitors.
Early footage reinvigorated the die-hard Tesla fans.
However, it didn’t take long for things to go the other way.
Clips of wrong-way turns, sudden stops, and near misses with pedestrians spread like wildfire, landing the trials on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s radar. Suddenly, Tesla’s camera-only approach looked a lot more risky than revolutionary.
Moreover, the topsy-turvy rollout came as Tesla’s European sales slid.
In the Nordics, registrations plummeted over 60% in June. In Sweden, things were even worse, plunging 64%.
Across the broader EU, deliveries tanked over 40% in May as aggressive Chinese competitors like BYD kept winning price wars.
Also, you can forget the Musk factor.
The CEO’s outspoken political takes have done him hardly any favors this year.
His public fallout with former ally President Donald Trump has become a nightmare for Tesla stockholders, with Trump threatening to yank the federal subsidies that have kept Tesla afloat for the better part of its history.
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For perspective, Tesla has pulled in a whopping $10 billion in regulatory-credit sales or more since 2019 alone, amounting to a third of its net income over that period.
Tesla Stock’s rough patch may finally be over, Gene Munster says
According to Deepwater Asset Management analyst Gene Munster, Tesla stock may have just turned a corner.
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He believes the company’s latest second-quarter delivery numbers point to a bottom for the struggling EV powerhouse.
Speaking on Bloomberg Television, Munster summed up the relief many investors felt: “We’re at the bottom here.”
He said that Tesla’s Q2 deliveries came in roughly 4% higher than market expectations, landing close to 384,000 vehicles.
Though that’s still down about 13% compared to last year, it wasn’t the nightmare some had been bracing for.
The stock jumped nearly 5% on Wednesday as traders bet the worst might be behind Tesla, though it later gave back those gains.
Additionally, analysts at Goldman Sachs expected just 365,000 deliveries, which meant the actual figure cleared a very low bar, potentially leading to a much-needed bounce for the stock.
Nevertheless, the Q2 total was still down year-over-year, but was up 14% from Q1, suggesting a possible stabilization heading into the back half of this year.
Tesla’s best-selling Model 3 and Model Y made up the lion’s share of the numbers, accounting for nearly 374,000 of the cars delivered. Other models added close to 10,000 more.
Still, Tesla’s road ahead remains bumpy.
Competition from cheaper Chinese EVs continues to clip away at its market share, while CEO Musk’s divisive political moves continue to spark protests and backlash in key markets.
For now, though, Munster’s call that “we’re at the bottom” is exactly what Tesla bulls wanted to hear.
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