Investors’ patience in Tesla has run out, Wedbush Securities analyst and longtime Tesla supporter Dan Ives argues. Musk’s continued role in the Trump administration has led protestors to vandalize or return their Teslas, and meanwhile led investors to believe the CEO is distracted and uncommitted to the EV-maker’s brand improvement.
One of Tesla’ biggest champions has doubled down on his wake-up call to Elon Musk, calling on the CEO to return to the helm of the limping EV-maker.
Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities and a longtime Tesla mega-bull, continued his warnings to Musk from last week, saying in a Wednesday note that the limited brand damage Tesla has experienced to date has now escalated into “a brand tornado crisis moment for Musk and Tesla.”
“The clock struck midnight,” Ives told Fortune. “Investor frustrations boiled over, and the more Tesla becomes a political symbol, the worse it is to the brand and the stock.”
The so-called vortex picked up speed earlier this month, when Tesla recorded its worst single-day sell off, losing $127 billion in market value. Beyond facing stiff competition from China, where EV-makers boast more affordable cars, faster charging, and more impressive automated driving, Tesla has also been battered by criticism of Musk’s heavy involvement in President Donald Trump’s administration. Musk’s role in the government has, at best, alienated potential customers and, at worst, sparked fervent protests, with some vandalizing cars and setting charging stations aflame.
In a show of solidarity with Musk, Trump promised to buy a Tesla and held an event featuring the cars on the White House lawn. Ives called this “great political theater,” but also a double-edged sword. “It does not resolve the current brand/demand problem for Musk and Tesla,” he said in his note to investors, “and in some ways makes it more of a political lightning rod issue for Tesla.”
After Musk told Fox News his plans to work with the Trump administration for another year, despite admitting he’s running his swath of companies—from Tesla to X—“with great difficulty,” Ives gave Tesla some rare “tough love.” He called on the CEO to return to the helm of his company, lest a contained brand setback became a free fall.
Tesla did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Avoiding ‘permanent brand damage’
Since Ives’ initial plea, Tesla’s fortunes have not reversed, leading the analyst to continue to petition Musk to change the company’s course. In the past five days, Tesla stock has continued to slump about 4.5%.
The cycle of Tesla woes followed by support from the Trump administration continued anew this week: The EV-maker agreed to recall all 46,100 of its Cybertrucks over concerns of glue becoming brittle and potentially causing the car’s stainless steel panels to fall off. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick came to Musk’s aid, urging Americans in a Wednesday Fox News interview to scoop up Tesla stock, as “it will never be this cheap again.”
While longtime investor Ross Gerber urged Musk to either step up or step away and find a different “suitable CEO” to run the company, Ives stopped short of calling for a changing of the guard at Tesla. Instead, Ives believes Tesla’s brand is inextricable from Musk. He proposed Musk take a step back from DOGE to resume his leadership role at Tesla in earnest. The CEO will need to prove he can produce lower-cost vehicles and deliver on years-in-the-making self–driving technology.
“If he does this, the heat from Musk around DOGE will start to dissipate among most of the critics and this will leave a scar for Tesla,” Ives said, “but not permanent brand damage.”
Ives maintained Tesla’s “outperform” stock rating, estimating the car maker’s stock to double its worth over the next 12 months to $550, but said the company’s future rests on Musk’s shoulders alone.
“Let’s call it like it is: Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it,” Ives said. “Musk.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
