Tesla’s rough ride in 2024: A timeline of major challenges

Tesla (TSLA) was once soaring high — a member of the Magnificent Seven group of tech or tech-adjacent stocks that led rallies in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) to one of its all-time highs — but has since fallen from grace in the 2024 trading calendar. The company has faced a litany of challenges, from disappointing production figures to leadership concerns around CEO Elon Musk.

Yahoo Finance Anchor Madison Mills breaks down a timeline of the challenges that Tesla has faced in recent months to give context to its slide from the top.

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This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

MADISON MILLS: 2024 has been off to a rough start for Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk with shares of the EV maker down more than 35% this year. Giving back a good chunk of the massive gains, the name sought back in 2023. Right now hitting their lowest level since January. It's now among the worst performers in the S&P 500 closely followed by another embattled company, Boeing. So how did we get here for Tesla? Well, back in January, they warned of notably slower sales growth that fueled investor concerns about stock demand and competition from China.

CEO Elon Musk then said, the company would be focusing on production of its new generation vehicle. That day Tesla stock suffered its sharpest percentage drop in more than a year, with $80 billion wiped out in market value just in that day. A record breaking drop. And then we had price cuts and more price cuts. At the beginning of the year, Tesla cut prices of the Model 3 and Model Y in China. The company also reported slowing China shipments spooking investors and sending shares to fresh lows.

Then moving on to February, Tesla slashing prices in the US off of its Model Y cars. That was less than a month after the carmaker cut those prices in Germany. In March, things got worse. Deliveries for the company fell 20% from the previous quarter, marking the first year over year declines since 2020. Now we should mention deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla. But they're not precisely defined in the company's shareholder communication. So it is an estimate.

And just this week, the company cutting 10% of its workforce and a major executive resigning after 18 years at the EV maker. So amidst all that bad news. Also Elon Musk did try to spark some optimism saying that the long awaited robotaxis would be unveiled in August. But that might not be enough for the street. The rough ride for the company leaving Wall Street feeling very bearish on this name. Over 60% of analysts had a buy rating on Tesla just last year.

Now only 32% of analysts have a buy rating. Over 44% have a hold and 23% have a rare sell rating.