Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) held its annual shareholder meeting at its Texas gigafactory on Tuesday. Even though a pair of analysts highlighted many of the same key takeaways from the event, they don't agree on what it means for the future of the EV company.
What To Know: RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan and Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote new notes to clients Wednesday morning following Tesla's 2023 shareholder meeting.
Narayan came away from the event with an overall positive sentiment. The RBC Capital analyst focused on commentary surrounding CEO Elon Musk's role at Tesla. Reports leading up to the event suggested that he could step down in the near future, but Musk shut the door on those rumors.
Narayan expects Musk's response to be viewed as a positive for the EV company and to help drive shares higher short term.
Furthermore, Musk told Tesla shareholders he would spend less time at Twitter following Linda Yaccarino's appointment as CEO.
"Many investors look at Twitter's success as important for Tesla shares as it means Musk is less likely to need to sell down more of his Tesla stake to fund operations at Twitter," Narayan said.
The RBC Capital analyst also highlighted Musk's commentary on a bumpy road ahead for automakers. Narayan believes this is the reason that Tesla has cut prices on its vehicles several times.
"Tesla's price cuts have taken prices effectively down where they are competitive with ICE models," he said.
Bernstein's Sacconaghi doesn't see it the same way. It's not the economy and overall auto industry, it's Tesla, the Bernstein analyst said.
Sacconaghi believes Tesla's issues are separate from other automakers and stem from the company's limited model lineup.
"2024 could be even more challenging," the Bernstein analyst said.
He isn't so sure full self-driving is coming this year, as the true hurdle to bringing it to market is acceptance, both by consumers and regulators, he said, adding that Musk's vision for full self-driving could take "years/decades" to play out.
Both analysts see a low-cost vehicle and potential advertising of the company's vehicles as positives for Tesla, but they ultimately see Tesla shares moving in opposite directions over the next year.
RBC Capital has a price target of $212 on Tesla shares, while Bernstein has a price target of just $150.