Tesla’s CEO Musk Puts the Brake on His Stock Sale for Two Years

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) continued its downward spiral on Thursday, falling more than 8% and dragging down other EV stocks, too. In addition, Elon Musk announced in a Twitter Spaces audio chat that he won’t be selling his TSLA stock over the next two years.

Musk’s statement comes after disclosing last week that he sold $3.6 billion worth of TSLA shares and has now sold $40 billion worth of his stock since late last year.

The Tesla CEO added, “I needed to sell some stock to make sure, like, there’s powder dry…to account for a worst case scenario.”

Musk also commented that the economy is likely to be in a “serious recession” in 2023 and demand for big-ticket items is likely to fall.

Musk’s comments came even as on Thursday, Tesla announced deep discounts of up to $7,500 on its EVs to its U.S. customers.

This strategy has led even Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, a long-time TSLA bull to state that the demand for the EV major’s cars is perhaps, slowing down. The analyst expects TSLA’s Q4 deliveries are now likely to be in the range of 410,000 to 415,000, as compared with “unofficial” Wall Street expectations of around 435,000.

Ives commented, “At the same time that Tesla is cutting prices and inventory is starting to build globally in face of a likely global recession, Musk is viewed as ‘asleep at the wheel’ from a leadership perspective for Tesla at the time investors need a CEO to navigate this Category 5 storm.”

While the analyst has kept his Buy rating on the stock, Ives has slashed his price target to $175 from $250 and has now lowered his price target twice since early November.

Ives’ price target implies an upside potential of 39.6% at current levels.

Besides Ives, other Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic about TSLA stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 19 Buys, 10 Holds and two Sells.