One of Wall Street's biggest fans of Tesla Inc. and Apple Inc. slashed his price targets for both stocks Sunday in the wake of recent developments.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives cut his price target for Tesla Motors stock by 43%, from $550 to $315, due to tariffs and Chief Executive Elon Musk's controversial cost-cutting role with the Trump administration.
Tesla deliveries plunged in the first quarter, and last weekend saw massive demonstrations at Tesla showrooms protesting Musk's actions. Tesla shares dropped about 15% on Thursday and Friday combined, and have fallen more than 40% since the start of the year.
"This situation is not sustainable and the brand of Tesla is suffering by the day as a political symbol," Ives wrote. "Our longstanding bull view of Tesla remains, but there is no denying this is a pivotal moment of truth for Musk to turn things around... or darker days are ahead."
Ives called for Musk to "step up, read the room and be a leader."
He also said the steep tariffs imposed last week by the Trump administration will hurt Tesla's sales in China, and that combined with Musk's political backlash, "We now estimate Tesla has lost/destroyed at least 10% of its future customer base globally based on self-created brand issues, and this could be a conservative estimate."
Meanwhile, Ives lowered Apple's price target by 20%, from $325 to $250, citing the fallout of Trump's tariffs.
"Trump's tariffs are a disaster for Apple due to its heavy China exposure, with 90% of iPhones made there. Unlike COVID disruptions, this isn't a temporary issue - the 54% China and 32% Taiwan tariffs would crush Apple's costs and hurt demand." Ives added that he remains bullish on Apple long term.
While Apple received tariff exemptions in Trump's first term, experts say it's less likely to get relief this time around.
Ives also said it's not realistic to expect Apple to move significant iPhone production to the U.S. from Asia.
"The reality is it would take 3 years and $30 billion dollars in our estimation to move even 10% of its supply chain from Asia to the U.S. with major disruption in the process," he wrote, adding that "the near-term margin impact on Apple's gross margins during this tariff war could be mind-boggling for this U.S. tech stalwart."
Apple's stock sank about 14% on Thursday and Friday combined, and is down about 25% year to date,