Tesla is going through a bit of a slow period right now, and according to analysts of Morgan Stanley, this may be because of Elon Musk and his obsession with bitcoin.
Elon Musk Is Driving Tesla Shares Down
Elon Musk has gone back and forth in recent months regarding the world’s number one digital currency by market cap. The South African entrepreneur sent the currency sky high in the month of February when he decided to purchase approximately $1.5 billion worth of the digital asset and add it to Tesla’s balance sheet. He then made an even bigger move and claimed that his company would be accepting bitcoin payments for all Tesla-based goods and services in the future.
From there, however, Musk changed his tune a bit and said that he was going to rescind this decision given that he had concerns about the mining process and the environmental hazards it presented. He also hinted on Twitter that he was potentially looking into selling his personal bitcoin stash. Both moves ultimately brought the currency down big time.
Whether it is for better or worse, Musk seems to have his mind filled to the brim with bitcoin and crypto, and this has caused Tesla to experience some lag in its operations as of late. In a recent document, analysts with financial giant Morgan Stanley explained:
Over the past couple of months, incoming client interest on Tesla is focused mostly on Chinese sales/production data and Elon Musk’s tweets regarding bitcoin. Might Tesla-bitcoin fever be telling us something about the lull in Tesla sentiment?
Elon Musk has been accused of potentially taking the lead in a pump and dump scheme involving bitcoin. He talks it up after buying it so that he can see his portfolio grow, then secretly sells, and talks it down so that everyone around him loses profit. Musk has denied any such maneuver, claiming that his company Tesla has only sold about ten percent of its overall bitcoin holdings at the time of writing.
In addition, he has also claimed that Tesla will once again resort to accepting BTC payments in the future should emissions from crypto mining be cut by 50 percent or more. This ultimately caused the currency to jump back above the $40,000 line after weeks of traversing the mid-$30,000 range.
Bitcoin Is the Driver for the Company
Morgan Stanley further stated in its report:
You just know it is a rather dry spell for Tesla when bitcoin is the dominant new story and dominant driver of investor discussion day in, day out.
Thus far, Tesla stock has experienced a dip of approximately 15 percent since the beginning of the year. It is presently trading for around $597 per share. Morgan Stanley has set a price prediction for Tesla of $900 per share by the time 2021 comes to an end.
