Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA): What Investors Are Asking Analysts

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), along with other hot stocks, look to be in recovery mode today as an answer to U.S. budget worries appears near. Morgan Stanley analysts continue to like the company and have issued a report with answers to the top five questions they have been fielding from investors recently.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA): What Investors Are Asking Analysts

Why don’t others copy Tesla?

Analysts Adam Jonas, Ravi Shanker, Yejay Ying and Paresh Jain say that although investors continue to ask them about expectations for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s next quarter, there are some more long-term questions appearing. One of the things investors want to know is whether other companies will be able to copy the automaker.

However, they believe this will be difficult for competing automakers to do without licensing Tesla’s intellectual property. They said “an incumbent car company” might not even want electric vehicles to be “too successful,” and they suggest that a disruption within the market might be too hard to control.

Will Model S sales stop growing next year?

The analysts said investors are also wondering if they are worried that Model S sales will stop growing in the second half of 2014. They said this could be a mathematical certainty unless the vehicle’s volume greatly exceeds 30,000 next year. However, they note that “a better and cooler” Model X might cannibalize the Model S, which in their view isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Is Tesla threatened by the BMW i3?

Investors have also been asking about the BMW i3, which some have said is the automaker’s answer to Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). The Morgan Stanley analysts said “based on price, aesthetic and performance,” they think BMW’s car is targeting a different kind of buyer than the Model S. They believe those who are buying the i3 are motivated more by eco-friendly interests than by driving a vehicle just for the fun of it.

When should we be worried about Tesla?

They also have many investors asking them about what could cause problems for Tesla. The analysts said if Tesla’s Generation III vehicle is called a “spunky and a spirited ride,” but the 2017 BMW 3 Series is actually considered to be a better car. Most investors and analysts who are bullish on Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) hold their views because they are looking forward to the potential a mass market electric vehicle holds for the automaker. Needless to say, if the mass market vehicle isn’t well-liked, Tesla shares could go south.

Are Tesla shares overvalued?

The Morgan Stanley analysts have maintained their Overweight rating and $149 per share price target for the stock. However, they do say that most investors that talk to believe shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) are greatly overvalued. In their conversations, they simply go back to the 2008 conversations they had about the “Porsche – VW saga.” They ask investors what their edge is, and the answer is usually one of three: valuation; a patient capital base which can afford to be wrong on a stock for a long time; or that it’s a momentum stock which has to keep executing perfectly in order to work.

The analysts said they will be re-evaluating their view of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) after they see the company’s third quarter results.

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