By Sam Boughedda
Piper Sandler analysts defended Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a note Thursday, following the stock's most recent plunge.
Tesla shares are up more than 9% in Thursday's session but have fallen more than 50% in the last three months. The analysts have an Overweight rating and a $340 price target on the electric vehicle giant's shares.
"TSLA has been in a tailspin over the past few weeks with bearishly-inclined traders and/or tax-loss sellers pouncing on every bit of incrementally negative news," the analysts write. "And of course, the Twitter situation and China's COVID outbreak haven't helped matters."
They did state that the firm acknowledges that growth could slow in 2023 due to factors such as a recession, rising interest rates, and "tapped-out" demand.
"But we do NOT believe that Tesla's market share is suddenly succumbing to a wave of new competition, and we do NOT believe anything has changed with the long-term thesis," they added.
The analysts said the firm encourages investors to stay grounded in the data for each major region, as they don't see any red flags in these datasets.