Could it get any worse for Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ)? Top executives have been fleeing the ship, demand is plummeting, sales slipping, and government incentives at home and abroad are under threat, and that’s not the worst of it.

JPMorgan analysts recently slashed their forecasts after citing ‘unprecedented brand damage’ being inflected on the carmaker by… Elon Musk. Yes, he may be the Tesla hype initiator general but his association with the Trump administration has got potential Tesla buyers and investors thinking twice. Even as Musk departs the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), it’ll be hard to undo the damage that’s already been done. 

At the start of April Tesla reported its worst quarterly sales in nearly three years, with the rough 12% drop far worse than 3.7% expectations. Notably it came before any impact from tariffs on the company.  

Even Tesla bull Dan Ives at Wedbush called the delivery numbers ‘a disaster’, adding that the ‘brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla ... there is no debate’.

At the same time, the company is facing a significant competitive threat from Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (1211:HKG), both inside and outside China. In the first three months of 2025, BYD shipped nearly one million cars.

Miss Q1 2025 revenue and earnings forecasts on 22 April, pitched at roughly $21.85 billion and $0.45 per share respectively, according to consensus, and it could lead to another big sell-off in Tesla stock. The company has already lost a third of its market value year to date. JPMorgan reckons the share price could halve from current $252 levels. 

US UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

QUARTERLY RESULTS

18 April: HCA

21 April: WR Berkley

22 April: Baker Hughes, Chubb, Equifax, GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, MSCI, Netflix, Tesla, Verizon

23 April: AT&T, Boeing, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ford Motor, IBM, Philip Morris, ServiceNow, Texas Instruments, Thermo Fisher Scientific

24 April: Amazon.com, American Express, Apple, Caterpillar, Comcast, Dow, Eastman Chemical, Freeport-McMoran, Hasbro, Intel, Keurig Dr Pepper, Mastercard, P&G, PepsiCo, VeriSign

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