UBS downgrades TSLA to 'sell,' says Tesla stock will hit $210

For anyone who bought on day one, owning stock in Tesla Motors has been a tremendously good investment. From its IPO price of $17 back in June of 2010, TSLA stock has rocketed to around $270 today. Along the way, there have been countless predictions of when the stock would crash or when it would reach the next multiple-of-$100 threshold. The most recent, we think, is a warning shot by UBS analyst Colin Langan, who changed his TSLA rating from "neutral" to "sell." The stock price dropped about four percent after Langan's adjustment, the third such change from an investment bank in the past month, Reuters says. The others were Deutsche Bank and Pacific Crest.

Of course, even if some analysts think TSLA is going to go downhill, others still see a rosy future. Reuters found 20 analysts offering their TSLA predictions, and only four say the stock is a "sell." Six say hold on to TSLA and ten say you should buy it. As you can see, the overall average investor analyst message calculated by NASDAQ is to "buy" TSLA. Over there, 10 recommend either "buy" or "strong buy," four say "hold," and three say "sell" or predict TSLA will underperform. Yahoo says the median target price for TSLA, based on the analysts it tracks, is $309.

The reason for Langan's lowered TSLA valuation is that he worries about Tesla's future EV and home battery sales. He says that Tesla's predictions – selling 1.5 million vehicles in 10 years, for example – are not likely to happen. Langan set a new TSLA price target of $210, down from his previous target of $220. Last year, Langan said the stock would reach $230 and compared Tesla to Netscape and Palm. Langan apparently has a 68 percent overall success rate in his stock recommendations.

For anyone looking for a more optimistic prediction, check out what Ben Kallo, a senior research analyst at Robert W. Baird, said about TSLA last week. Kallo said that Tesla's current valuation is "justified."

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