Cramer calls Morgan Stanley's $10 worst-case scenario on Tesla stock 'really insane'
- CNBC's Jim Cramer says Morgan Stanley cutting its worst-case forecast on Tesla so drastically from $97 per share appears to be a gimmick.
- Setting a price target of $10 on a $200 stock "really is insane," the "Mad Money" host says.
CNBC's Jim Cramer on Tuesday said that Morgan Stanley cutting its worst-case forecast on Tesla from $97 per share to just $10 appears to be a gimmick.
Setting a price target of $10 on a $200 stock "really is insane," the "Mad Money" host said. "How about $8? How about $12? Ten basically says, 'I want to get talked about. Let's talk about me.'"
Morgan Stanley, in a research note Tuesday co-authored by Adam Jonas, said the bear call was based on demand concerns and exposure in China.
The analysts left their Tesla base target at $230 per share and their best case at $391. Tesla's market cap is currently at $36.4 billion.
"Our revised bear case assumes Tesla misses our current Chinese volume forecast by roughly half," Jonas and his colleagues wrote, citing "the highly volatile trade situation in the region."
"If he had done $47 would we have talked about him? No, but 10. Ten is right in your face," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street." "I question this piece of research."
A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment on Cramer's criticism.
Shares of Tesla were hitting 2½-year lows Tuesday, below $200 at the worst levels of the session, for a market capitalization, or stock market value, of about $36 billion.
However, that was a far cry from its all-time low of under $15 in July 2010, less than a month after it went public at $17. On the flip side, the stock hit an all-time high of nearly $390 per share in September 2017.
In a year with the up about 14%, Tesla has declined nearly 40% in 2019.
But it's been tough to bet against Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The stock is up nearly 1,100% since its IPO.