Tesla stock was rising early Tuesday after a few comments from President Donald Trump and a few tweets from CEO Elon Musk, which have investors less worried about last week's feud.
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker were up 4% in Tuesday trading.
The stock brushed off a warning from Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan, who wrote that the company was on track for another weak quarter of car sales. Through May, North American deliveries were down 13% year over year, based on data from industry providers Langan tracks. European deliveries were off 42%. Chinese deliveries fell 22%.
Wall Street projects second-quarter deliveries of about 412,000 cars, according to FactSet, down 7% year over year. That might be optimistic. Weaker-than-expected deliveries can create profit margin pressure, Langan adds. He rates Tesla stock at Sell, and has a $120 price target.
It's a concerning update, but investors have other things on their minds besides the car sales. Tesla stock traded as low as $281.85 on Monday but closed at $308.58, up 4.6% on the day. Shares rallied late after Trump wished Musk well, and said he would be willing to speak with the Tesla CEO. That came after Musk appeared to support the president's policy regarding the L.A. protests, responding to a post from Vice President JD Vance with two American flags. Musk also reposted comments from the president that were critical of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Shares of the EV maker fell 17% in the space of two days last week after disagreements between Musk and the president descended into a war of words on social media. At Monday's close, Tesla stock had recovered about 60% of the feud-related losses.
Tesla shares closed just north of $344 on Tuesday, June 3, the day before things got strange.
Now, investor attention turns to Tesla fundamentals. It's slated to launch a self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas, in a matter of days. Tesla bulls hope autonomous vehicles will unlock a new era of growth for the company.
Coming into Tuesday's trading, Tesla stock was down about 24% year to date but up almost 75% over the past 12 months.
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