Tesla Shares Plummet 68% in Past Year

Tesla's stock (TSLA) has declined 68% in the past year, from $352.26 on Dec. 27, 2021 to $117.50 at market open Tuesday.

As CEO Elon Musk balances oversight of Twitter, which he purchased in October for $44 billion, with his other companies—Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Co.—Tesla stock is on track for its worst month, quarter and year on record, CNBC reports.

Tesla shares have declined 42% in December alone, as investors continue to sell shares as Tesla challenges mount.

TSLA has now surpassed Meta (META) as the worst-performing stock of 2022. It's also down twice as much as Nasdaq. By comparison, Ford (FORD) is down 45%, and General Motors (GM) has declined by 43%.

Tesla is continuing a week-long manufacturing halt at its Shanghai gigfactory in China, for a total of 17 days, as COVID cases there continue to rise.

Rare Discounts

Last week, Tesla expanded discounts in North America for Model 3 and Model Y EVs—price breaks that come on the heels of discounts that Tesla offered to customers in China earlier this fall.

Meanwhile, Musk has continued to sell large chunks of his Tesla stock, including 22 million more shares worth $3.6 billion in mid-December.

As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, Tesla was trading at $112.25.

Craig Irwin, a Roth Capital analyst, who has a hold rating on the stock an a $85 price target, echoed the sentiment of many Tesla watchers in saying, 'I think he (Elon Musk) really needs to focus on operations, focus on giving us great cars.'

Since becoming Twitter CEO on Oct. 28, 10 releases of internal documents, dubbed the 'Twitter files,' have shown how the social media behemoth, under former CEO Jack Dorsey, cooperated with various agencies of the U.S. government, not least of which being the FBI, to shape public opinion on political, electoral and health issues, including COVID-19.

Musk has also stirred Twitter controversy among mainstream media and liberals by welcoming back previously banned users, including former President Donald Trump.

Many big advertisers have paused or suspended their advertising on the platform, which continues to bleed cash despite Musk laying off about half of the staff shortly after assuming control.

Shares Decline 11.4% Tuesday

Tesla Inc shares fell 11.4% on Tuesday following a report that Tesla was planning to run a reduced production schedule in January at its Shanghai plant sparked worries of a drop in demand in the world's biggest car market.

The stock, which fell to its lowest in more than two years and had its worst day in eight months, was the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index.

It has lost more than half its value since the start of October as investors worry that Twitter was taking much of Musk's time while fretting about his stake sale in the electric-car maker.

The world's most valuable automaker's production cuts at the Shanghai plant come amid a rising number of COVID-19 infections in the country.

"There's no question there are demand fears," Great Hill Capital Chairman Thomas Hayes said, citing a delivery forecast cut from Chinese rival Nio Inc in the key market.

Hayes also added that Tesla's stock was facing a "perfect storm" of high-interest rates, tax loss selling and share sales by some funds that hold a significant amount of Tesla stock.

Tax loss selling is when an investor sells an asset at a capital loss to lower or eliminate the capital gain realized by other investments, for income tax purposes.

Meanwhile, a Reuters analysis showed that prices of used Tesla cars were falling faster than those of other carmakers, weighing on demand for the company's new vehicles rolling off the assembly line.