Tesla shares extended their decline for 2024, pushing the electric-vehicle maker’s market valuation briefly below $500 billion, as a round of job cuts this week underscored how much the company’s growth has slowed.
The stock closed down 2.7% at $157.11 on Tuesday in New York, after touching a low of $153.75 at one point in the session, and has fallen 37% this year. Tesla shares are the second-biggest decliner on the S&P 500 Index in 2024, erasing about $290 billion in shareholder wealth. The company hasn’t closed with a market value under $500 billion since late April of last year, and stayed narrowly above the mark as of Tuesday’s close.
"The retrenchment in employment and capacity has far-reaching implications for the hypergrowth narrative still embedded in Tesla’s share price, suggesting material downside risk for the stock,” said Ryan Brinkman, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co.