Tesla smashed in first 2023 session

Elon Musk’s electric carmaker has continued its dismal performance into 2023, marking its first new year trading day with a 12 per cent fall.

Another forgettable trading day for Tesla investors on its latest production report. Picture: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The start of a new year didn’t bring any relief for Elon Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla after a rough 2022.

The shares finished overnight down 12 per cent to $US108.10, making them the biggest decliner on the S&P 500.

Shares of the electric-vehicle maker slid after the company said it delivered fewer vehicles in 2022 than it initially targeted, ending a three-session winning streak.

It’s Tesla’s largest percentage decline since September 8, 2020, when it fell 21 per cent. Shares in Tesla fell 65 per cent in 2002 – its worst trading year.

Tesla delivered about 1.31 million vehicles last year, shy of the more than 1.4 million needed to reach its initial goal.

The company idled its car factory in Shanghai on multiple occasions, early on because of local pandemic restrictions, then again in December as it faced a wave of Covid-19 infections among workers and suppliers.

Meanwhile, Mr Musk’s involvement with Twitter, the social-media company he acquired in a deal valued at $US44bn, has frustrated many investors and alienated some potential Tesla buyers.

Chief executive Elon Musk’s Tesla selldowns, partly to prop up Twitter, have not helped the electric carmaker’s share price. Picture: Frederic J Brown/AFP

The Tesla chief executive liquidated more than $US39bn worth of Tesla stock since the shares peaked in November 2021, linking some of those sales to Twitter.

“A lot of bad news is already baked into Tesla’s stock and these numbers ‘could have been worse’ in the eyes of the Street,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a Tuesday note.

“That said, the Cinderella ride is over for Tesla.”

Separately, Tesla has been fined about $US2.2m by a South Korean regulator for allegedly misleading customers about its electric vehicles’ driving ranges.

Though big tech companies and other growth stocks in general were pummeled in 2022, Tesla in particular was punished, partially due to production issues in Shanghai and investor frustration over Musk’s involvement with Twitter.

Intraday, the shares fell more than 15 per cent, trading on heavy volume.

Tesla’s stock-price decline has dented Mr Musk’s personal wealth.

He is now worth about $US137bn, down more than $US130bn from a year earlier, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Wall Street analysts, however, are optimistic about what this year could bring for the beaten-down shares.

The average price target on the stock is above $US250, according to FactSet.

– The Wall Street Journal