Wedbush’s Dan Ives Cuts Tesla Price Target, Says Brand Has Morphed Into A “Political Symbol Globally”

US equity futures plunged early on Monday, with the S&P 500 teetering on the edge of a bear market. The sell-off comes in the wake of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz, which aimed to reshape global trade in accordance with his ‘America First’ doctrine. Market tremors are already rippling through individual names —Tesla tumbled another 5% in premarket trading in New York, compounding Friday’s brutal 10.5% decline. 

On Sunday, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives (uber bull) told clients that he slashed his Tesla price target by 43%, citing a brand crisis sparked by CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with DOGE as the Democratic Party melts down over fraud, waste, and abuse being cut out of the bloated federal government. 

“Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” Ives said, whose analyst rating on the stock remains “Buy” rated with a $315 target, down from $550. He added: ”It is time for Musk to step up, read the room, and be a leader in this time of uncertainty.”

Ives pointed out that the possibility of Tesla getting caught in the crossfire of the trade war between Trump and Beijing keeps him up at night—especially since the company generated over a fifth of its revenue in China last year.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping responded to Trump’s tariff bazooka on Chinese goods by matching the US’ effective tariff rate of around 54%. 

“This will further drive Chinese consumers to buy domestic such as BYD, Nio, Xpeng and others,” Ives told clients, adding, ”We now estimate Tesla has lost/destroyed at least 10% of its future customer base globally based on self- created brand issues, and this could be a conservative estimate.”

On Friday, JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman — Tesla’s most bearish analyst — warned about “unprecedented brand damage” amid the Democratic Party’s meltdown over Musk’s DOGE involvement. 

Brinkman’s decade of Tesla “Sell” ratings… 

Also, last week, Tesla reported 330,000 vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, missing Goldman, JPM, Morgan Stanley, and UBS’s estimates of between 351,000 and 375,000. 

Tesla shares have been halved since their record high on Dec. 17. In premarket trading, shares are down 5%, extending Friday’s 10.5% decline. 

As of the latest Wall Street consensus (data via Bloomberg), 55% of analysts covering Tesla maintain a “Buy” rating, 23.3% rate the stock as “Hold,” and 21.7% assign a “Sell” rating.

The question becomes: What will Xi do with Tesla if Trump’s trade war escalates from here?