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Tesla stock is in a “quagmire,” longtime investor Ross Gerber said.
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He said he sold around $60 million in Tesla shares amid growing concerns over the carmaker.
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No one seems interested in buying Tesla’s cars anymore, Gerber told Yahoo Finance.
One of Tesla’s longtime investors has dumped around half his stake in Elon Musk’s carmaker.
According to longtime shareholder Ross Gerber, that’s because no one seems interested in buying its cars or robots.
Gerber, who’s been a loud critic of Musk since the Tesla CEO acquired Twitter in 2022, said he had sold around 60 million worth of his Tesla shares. His investment fund still has a $50 million stake in the company, Gerber told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview.
“Over time, I’ve just been sort of lowering my position, because I just don’t have the same confidence they’re going to achieve the goals that were set out for Tesla several years ago and even recently, which is to sell more cars,” Gerber said, dimissing bullish talk on Tesla’s robotics and full self-driving tech. “That’s just a distraction from the fact that they need to sell cars, this year, and next year, and the year after, because none of this is coming soon.”
Other Tesla investors have also grown skeptical and impatient over the car company’s trajectory. Tesla’s stock is down 13% his year, largely due to declining sales, rising competition in China, and drama surrounding Elon Musk’s legal battles.
The used car market is now swarmed with old Teslas, Gerber said, adding that he’s been unable to offload his own Tesla at what he deems a fair value.
“It’s really a quagmire where you have the best products in the industry, but a CEO who doesn’t actually work there, who doesn’t try to sell the cars,” Gerber said. “We’ve seen sales go down, and that’s what’s happening. If you’re expecting a great quarter, you’re wrong. They’re not selling any Teslas here, other than basically, discount, discount, discount.”
And while analysts have made the case that the company is being undervalued as an AI firm, artificial intelligence is unlikely to save the company, Gerber said. He speculated demand would be poor for Tesla’s humanoid robots, given doubts over Elon Musk amid his chaotic revamp of Twitter into X.
“The simplest way to do it is, go around to your neighbors and ask them, ‘How many of you would buy a humanoid robot built by Elon Musk?’ And the answer is zero. Nobody wants a robot from Elon Musk. Why? Who would trust it?” Gerber said. “The last thing I need is some robot built by Elon Musk in my house. I don’t know if they thought about the marketing of this at all yet.”
Musk’s leadership of Tesla has been under rising scrutiny from investors and lawmakers over the past few years. Most recently, US Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Tesla’s board of directors, calling on the executives to ensure Musk was meeting his financial responsibilities to Tesla shareholders.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Source Agencies
