Tesla stock will crash to $24, warns Wall Street expert

As Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock fell by more than 7% over the past 24 hours following an underwhelming Cybercab event on September 3, Gordon Johnson, a Wall Street analyst at GLJ Research, expects a crash to $24 over the next 12 months.

Johnson reiterated a ‘Sell’ rating for Tesla stock, according to a note sent to clients on September 4. Additionally, he set the firm’s 12-month price target at $24.86. With TSLA trading at approximately $351.95, GLJ Research signals a potential 92.94% downside over the next 12 months.

GLJ Research reaffirmed a negative sentiment for Tesla following a Cybercab launch that drastically underperformed market expectations. Johnson argued that this event has failed to provide critical deployment metrics, such as forward pricing, an order mechanism, or a defined timeline, and has restricted paid rides to an extremely limited geofence in Austin. Furthermore, the firm emphasizes that Tesla's premium valuation demands evidence of a functional, scalable autonomous network rather than a standalone vehicle. Since the company provided no new progress on its underlying network thesis, the firm views the Cybercab launch as a classic “sell-the-news” catalyst.

In addition to GLJ Research, Colin Langan, a Wall Street analyst at Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), maintained a ‘Sell’ rating for Tesla stock on Friday. Langan set the bank’s 12-month price target for TSLA at $130, suggesting a possible 63% selloff.

As such, 28 analysts surveyed by TipRanks over the past three months have set an average rating of ‘Moderate Buy’ and a 12-month target of $377.08, representing a likely 7.18% uptick.

Year-to-date (YTD), TSLA's price has fallen by 19.66%, thus lowering the company’s market capitalization to $1.5 trillion at the time of publication.

If the company’s two-seat autonomous vehicle gains traction over the coming months, TSLA stock may get better ratings from Wells Fargo and GLJ Research.