Buckle up, because Tesla could be in for a bumpy ride this week.
The automaker said on Sunday that it pushed out 5000 Model 3 cars, producing a total of 7000 vehicles in the latest week. Tesla reportedly raced against the clock to meet that goal, momentarily alleviating pressure on CEO Elon Musk.
Still, at least one bearish Tesla investor is steering clear.
“I wouldn’t touch it going into these production dates and delivery dates,” Michael Bapis, managing director at The Bapis Group at Hightower Advisors, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Friday. “They have yet to meet one production or one delivery and there’s a massive cash burn on the bottlenecks in the production so I would stay as far away from Tesla as possible.”
Tesla has struggled to meet high demand and often undershoots its own and analysts’ targets. During a recent shareholder meeting, Musk forecast a production rate of 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of June. Although Musk said the company met that goal, Tesla began this quarter producing only 2,000 Model 3s a week.
There is one thing, however, that could change Bapis’ mind.
“Let’s get everything they’re saying they’re going to do done, and that would change my mind on the company,” he said.
Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, was more forgiving of Tesla’s disappointments.
“Tesla has delivered; they just simply haven’t delivered up to the expectations put on them,” Sanchez told CNBC on Friday. “We’re looking at a situation where people are really, really paying forward for really big expectations and that is probably their biggest strength and weakness.”
Tesla shares’ biggest gains have been largely based on the promise of a future payoff, as its failed to post a quarterly profit since its third quarter of 2016. It has never posted a full-year profit in eight years as a publicly-traded company.
“The pricing has left absolutely no margin for error,” Sanchez added. “For people who bought it at a lower price and have ridden it up, great. But if you’re coming in at this point you are making a big bet with very little room for any error.”
Friday marked the 8th anniversary of its IPO. Since making its market debut at $17 a share, Tesla has surged 1,917 percent.
