Tesla Inc. (ticker: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has earned quite a reputation for speaking his mind throughout the years. This weekend, Musk opened his mouth about Tesla stock’s valuation and cost shareholders $1.3 billion in market capitalization.
Speaking to the National Governors Association on Saturday, Musk said there is a “lot of optimism” about Tesla stock at the moment.
“I’ve gone on the record several times that the stock price is higher than we have the right to deserve, and that’s for sure true based on where we are today,” Musk said.
Tesla shares understandably fell 2.5 percent in Monday’s trading session and are now down more than 17 percent from all-time highs hit just last month. That may have been the trigger for Musk to belatedly go to Twitter on Monday afternoon to clarify that “Tesla stock is obviously high based on past & present, but low if you believe in Tesla’s future. Place bets accordingly …”
Saturday was not the first time Musk has voiced concern about Tesla’s market valuation. In 2013, Musk said the market was being “very generous” to Tesla when shares were trading at around $160 per share.
“I really feel like the valuation we have right now is more than we have any right to deserve, honestly,” Musk said at the time.
In September 2014, Musk said he thought Tesla’s stock was “kind of high right now” when it was trading around $277.
In fact, Musk’s comments on Saturday echo comments he previously made about Tesla’s valuation back in May 2017. “I believe this market cap is higher than we have any right to deserve,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs analyst David Tamberrino also criticized Tesla’s current valuation and ambitious Model 3 production targets.
“With July being the soft launch date for the Model 3 relative to our previously forecasted September launch date, we bring forward our Model 3 production curve by two months, but still remain well below the company’s target production rates,” Tamberrino wrote. He also reiterated Goldman’s “sell” rating on Tesla and lowered his price target for the stock from $190 to $180.
Musk’s concerns over valuation certainly haven’t hurt…
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