Tesla held a surprise all-hands company meeting late Thursday. Chief Executive Elon Musk took the stage to once more tout the company's long-term strategy around robotaxis, artificial intelligence and robotics, including the expected demand around Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot.
The town hall event came amid a dive of more than 40% in Tesla stock in 2025, as Musk dedicates large portions of his time to President Donald Trump's White House. That work, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has resulted in "brand damage" for the EV giant.
But despite this, Musk's message was clear during the all-hands meeting: "What I'm saying is, hang onto your stock," he said to cheers.
The Tesla chief claimed the company will produce around 5,000 Optimus robots in 2025, 50,000 in 2026. Optimus sales will roll out in the second half of 2026. Musk also said that Tesla will make "millions" off the Tesla Semi, the company's long-haul trucking product, and that the trucks will be autonomous.
"Overall things are good. If you read the news it feels like Armageddon. I can't walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire," Musk said. "I understand if you don't want to buy our product but you don't have to burn it down."
After the meeting, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote that "leaders lead in times of trouble and crisis" and "Elon Musk took a major and much needed step forward by hosting a rare all-hands meeting for employees."
"This was a key moment for Musk and Tesla to show leadership and he did. We applaud Musk for 'reading the room' and showing important hand-holding at this key time for employees and investors," Ives wrote.
Tesla stock advanced 5.3% to 248.71 in Friday's market stock action, after adding 0.17% to 236.26 on Thursday. The company announced on Thursday the recall of 46,096 Cybertruck vehicles to fix an exterior panel that could detach while driving, according to U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla sold 38,965 Cybertrucks in 2024, according to Cox Automotive estimates.
Earnings Consensus Falling
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas late on Thursday cut his Tesla price target to 410 from 430, but maintained the overweight rating on the shares. Most of Jonas' commentary was on falling vehicle deliveries. However, the TSLA bull believes Tesla's "softer auto deliveries are emblematic of a company in the transition from an automotive 'pure play' to a highly diversified play on AI and robotics."
Analysts have been revising Q1 and full-year earnings estimates, according to FactSet. FactSet's current Sharp Consensus predicts first-quarter earnings down 2% to 49 cents per share. The Sharp Consensus view has dropped 7% since the end of January.
The company is also expected to see Q1 vehicle deliveries increase 7% to 417,000 as of Friday estimates, which have declined 7% since Jan. 31. The most timely delivery estimates are around 358,000-378,000, which would be below Q1 2024's 386,810.
For the full year, Sharp Consensus pegs Tesla EPS increasing 7% to $2.59. However, the consensus number has dropped about 10% in recent months. For 2025, analysts predict Tesla vehicle deliveries to increase 9% to 1.95 million units, but with more recent forecasts targeting flat to lower sales for the year.
Tesla Stock Performance
TSLA is working on its ninth straight weekly decline and has crashed well below key technical support. Investors should generally avoid stocks below the 200-day or even their 50-day lines.
On Wednesday, Baird analysts announced they are maintaining a "bearish fresh pick" designation on TSLA after a tour of Tesla's battery manufacturing line at the Texas gigafactory and a meeting with the investor relations. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard upgraded Tesla to overweight from neutral with an unchanged price target of 425 on Wednesday
TSLA stock fell 5.3% on Tuesday amid various Tesla China news pointing to lackluster demand for the refreshed Model Y. More analysts are also slashing price targets and estimates for deliveries and earnings, citing brand destruction in the U.S. and Europe.
Tesla stock enters Friday down more than 19% in March.
The EV giant has fallen 41.6% so far in 2025, the worst performer in the S&P 500 this year.
Tesla stock has a 21-day average true range of 7.06%. The ATR metric is available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool. It gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
In the current, unpredictable market, IBD suggests stocks with ATRs of 3 or below.
Tesla stock ranks ninth in the 35-stock IBD Auto Manufacturers industry group. The stock has a 47 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. Shares also have a 31 Relative Strength Rating and an 84 EPS Rating.
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