Video of a parked Tesla Model S exploding and a Wall Street downgrade of the electric carmaker's stock pushed shares down 4 percent Monday, just as it prepared to issue results for a troubled first quarter.
Brokerage Evercore cut its recommendation for shares of the Silicon Valley company to "sell," becoming the 12th brokerage to ask investors to abandon billionaire Elon Musk's venture and raising bearish sentiment to its highest level ever.
Musk and Tesla Inc. have faced a range of challenges over the past year as one of the leaders in electric vehicle technology sought to ramp up production, deliveries and sales of the Model 3 sedan seen as crucial to its long-term profitability.