Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a delivery ceremony for Tesla China-made Model 3 in Shanghai, East China, January 7, 2020.
Ding Ting | Xinhua News Agency | Getty images
Shares of electric carmaker Tesla will plummet as interest rates rise following the coronavirus crisis, Lansdowne Partners fund manager Per Lekander told CNBC.
Lekander told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday that he thinks Tesla is in a bubble and that he is short of Elon Musk’s company, meaning he will profit if the value of Tesla’s stock falls.
Tesla’s market value soared 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.
“I assume this year will be the comeback for the incumbents,” said Lekander, citing German automaker Volkswagen, valued at 119 billion euros ($ 141 billion), as a company he is particularly optimistic about. .
“There are a few gold nuggets, which I think will be long-term winners. But in the short term, I think if I’m right with the macro call that interest rates are going up and the market wakes up with the fact that) the incumbents are not as badly positioned as they think, yes, I think Tesla is going down. “
Some other market viewers are unlikely to agree with that prediction. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, for example, believes Tesla’s stock will recover after a volatile start to the year.
“Tesla’s success is boosting its EV (electric vehicle) initiatives and demand in China for March, which will lead to higher stocks after a shaky January and a robust February,” Ives said in a note on Monday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
Lekander made comparisons to the 1999 dotcom boom.
“When you think of the visionaries who talked about the Internet in 1999, if you listen to them now, they actually underestimate what happened,” he said. “The development was even more dramatic than what happened.”
He pointed out that Cisco – arguably a poster child for the era – has a much higher market value today than it did in 2000. “It didn’t stop it from dropping 80% first,” he said.
The equivalent in Europe was probably Nokia, Lekander added, saying it was down 80% as well.
“I think that’s what we’ll see here in this tech hype space,” he said.
Snapshot of Tesla Stock
Tesla’s ‘Technoking’
Last month, Tesla revealed it had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. Tech research firm Wedbush believes the company has already made $ 1.2 billion in profit on its investment.
Tesla officially gave CEO Musk the title “Technoking of Tesla” in a new legal filing on Monday.
Musk will retain his position as CEO, Tesla said. Zach Kirkhorn, the company’s chief financial officer, has also been renamed “Master of Coin.”
“We believe this indicates that Musk will see Tesla more as a technology disruptor in the future, especially with robotaxis, FSD (full self-driving) and massive advances in battery technology at Tesla,” said Ives.