Former Tesla stock bull slams Elon Musk for being 'asleep at the wheel' – Yahoo Finance

Wall Street is starting to pile on the criticism of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as the outspoken billionaire spends much of his time trying to fix his new toy — Twitter — and manage a demand slowdown at the EV leader.
"Need a leader at this time for Tesla, not Ted Striker," former Tesla bull Dan Ives at Wedbush said in a new note on Friday, referring to the pilot in the comedy film "Airplane."
"At the same time that Tesla is cutting prices and inventory is starting to build globally in face of a likely global recession, Musk is viewed as 'asleep at the wheel' from a leadership perspective for Tesla at the time investors need a CEO to navigate this Category 5 storm," Ives added. "Instead Musk is laser focused on Twitter, which has been an ongoing nightmare that never ends for investors with hopes a new CEO is picked in the coming weeks as a first step forward."
Ives followed Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner in slashing estimates for Tesla's fourth-quarter deliveries.
Ives sees deliveries coming in at 410,000 to 415,000, down from a prior estimate of 450,000. Analyst estimates stand at about 435,000.
The Street's more cautious stance on Tesla's near-term financial prospects — to be shared sometime early in January in the form of delivery numbers — comes as the stock continues to be pummeled by nervous investors. A number of analysts have downgraded the stock in recent days amid the concerns over demand and with Musk's management.
Tesla said on its website Wednesday it will offer $7,500 discounts on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles delivered in the U.S. in December.
Shares fell nearly 9% on Thursday's session. The stock has crashed about 70% from a high on January 3 of this year. Shares are down over 34% so far this month alone. Tesla's market cap, meanwhile, has fallen below the $400 billion mark for the first time in more than two years.
Most of the losses for Tesla investors started after Musk offered to buy Twitter in April, a deal that closed in late October and is perhaps just as concerning among investors as slowing global sales.
Those losses have returned aggressively in December on worries Musk's chaotic leadership of Twitter will hurt Tesla. The prospect of Musk selling more shares to fuel his turnaround at Twitter have also weighed on the stock.
Musk said in a new Twitter spaces chat late Thursday he wouldn't sell anymore Tesla shares until 2024 at the earliest. He has this year made similar proclamations only to subsequently sell more stock.
Tesla's stock rebounded slightly in the pre-market on Friday.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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