Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a ceremony to deliver the Model 3 manufactured by Tesla China in Shanghai, eastern China, on January 7, 2020.
Ding Ting | Xinhua News Agency Getty Images
Shares of electric carmaker Tesla will see sharp declines as interest rates rise after the coronavirus crisis, Lansdowne Partners fund manager Per Lekander told CNBC.
Lekander told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday that he believes Tesla is in a balloon and no longer has Elon Musk, which means he will profit if Tesla’s stock value falls.
Tesla’s market value rose to more than $ 800 billion in the 12 months leading up to January, before falling to less than $ 600 billion in February. It now stands at about $ 679 billion.
“My idea is that this year will be the return of the headlines,” said Lekander, calling on German carmaker Volkswagen, which is valued at 119 billion euros ($ 141 billion) as a company he is particularly optimistic about.
“There are some gold nuggets that I think will be winners in the long run. But in the short term, I think if I’m right on the macro call that interest rates are rising and the market wakes up (the fact that) holders aren’t so badly positioned as much as they think, then yes, I think Tesla is coming down. “
Some other market observers probably won’t agree with this prediction. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, for example, believes Tesla shares will recover after a volatile start to the year.
“Tesla’s success has boosted EV and electric vehicle initiatives and demand in China for March, which will catalyze larger shares after a shaky January and a robust February month,” Ives said in a note Monday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Lekander compared the dot-com boom of 1999.
“If you think about the viewers who talked about the internet in 1999, if you listen to them now, they underestimate what happened,” he said. “Development was even more radical than what happened.”
He pointed out that Cisco – probably a child displayed for that period – has a much higher market value today than in 2000. “It didn’t stop him from dropping 80 percent first,” he said.
The European equivalent was probably Nokia, Lekander added, saying it had dropped by 80%.
“I think that’s what we’re going to see here in this technical specification space,” he said.
Instant Tesla stock
Tesla’s “Technoking.”
Last month, Tesla revealed that it bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. Technical research firm Wedbush estimates that the company has already made a profit of $ 1.2 billion from its investment.
Tesla officially awarded CEO Musk the title of “Tesla Technology” in a new regulatory filing on Monday.
Musk will retain his position as chief executive officer, Tesla said. Zach Kirkhorn, the company’s chief financial officer, also received a new title: “Master of Currency”.
“We think this suggests that Musk sees Tesla more as a technology disruptor in the future, especially with robotaxis, FSD (full self-driving) and massive advances in battery technology on the horizon at Tesla,” Ives said.