Tesla and Elon Musk could see increased pressure from activist investors in 2023, according to a Monday note from Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Tesla is currently a target for activists because even as its underlying business continues to expand considerably, its stock price has shed half of its value in 2022. Tesla’s stock lost 6% on Monday, bringing its year-to-date market value loss to $560 billion.
Another reason Tesla is likely to face activist pressure is that CEO Elon Musk is not fully into running the electric vehicle giant. Instead, Musk splits his time between being CEO of several different high-profile companies including SpaceX, Tesla, and now Twitter.
According to Ives, activist investors could pressure Tesla to launch a stock buyback program, improve profit margins, or make “strategic moves.”
“We also believe activism will start to increase across the broader tech sector as names such as Salesforce and Tesla being two examples will face growing pressure around margins, buybacks, and strategic moves,” Ives said.
