Tesla Inc.’s lightning quick rally over the past month is showing signs of unraveling as Wall Street warns that investors are too optimistic about the electric-vehicle maker’s artificial intelligence credentials.
Despite the stock closing 2% higher Thursday, two technical signals are still flashing red. Wednesday was a so-called “outside-down” day for Tesla, which is when a stock touches a higher-high than the previous day, as well as a lower-low, and then closes below the previous day’s low. Shares fell 5.5% on Wednesday.
This is seen as a sign of buyer exhaustion, at least in the near-term, according to Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co.
“Tesla is showing signs that it’s ripe for a correction,” Maley said, adding that the stock has become “very overbought.”
Read more: Tesla Snaps Record Rally Amid Bearish Signal, Hawkish Fed
The 14-day relative strength index, which shows short-term buy and sell signals, pushed deeper into overbought territory, a level not seen since late 2021, earlier this month amid the stock’s strong rally. This typically suggests a correction may be close.
The broader market selloff, especially in technology stocks, amid renewed fears about a continued hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve is also bad news for the EV maker. Tesla shares were downgraded twice in as many days by two Wall Street analysts this week, both warning that the company’s valuation now overestimates its AI-related potential.
Read more: Tesla’s AI Dreams May Already Be Priced Into Stock: Tech Watch
“While we do agree with the merits of classifying Tesla as an ‘AI company,’ we would urge caution against grouping all aspects of AI into one bucket,” Morgan Stanley analyst and a long-term Tesla bull Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients. “As a result, we believe that Tesla’s current valuation is relatively full.”
(Updates stock in second paragraph. Updates chart.)
