Investors hoped Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi demonstration would deliver on substance and not just style. On Thursday, Elon Musk did show off real vehicles and humanoid robots who walked among guests—not just a dancer dressed in a robot bodysuit, like at the company’s “AI Day” three years ago—but many analysts still left unimpressed. At a glitzy event at Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles, Musk offered big promises but few details, underlining the case of Tesla bears who see a grossly inflated share price.
Rather than adding momentum to the stock’s recent rise, the robotaxi unveiling proved a “sell the news” event that some analysts predicted as shares plunged over 7% Friday morning. The stock is now down around 11% this year, compared with the S&P 500’s more than 22% gain. Tesla has already been booted off the so-called Magnificent Seven—America’s seven largest tech companies by market cap—by surging semiconductor and software giant Broadcom.
