Tesla shareholders hope first-quarter results on Monday will put the stock back on track.
Shares have fallen around 20 per cent since peaking early this year – though they are up 760 per cent since the start of 2020.
Analysts expect boss Elon Musk to post a 72 per cent rise in revenues to £7.4billion for the three months to March 31. Quarterly profits are forecast to have leapt from £50m to £498m. The update comes amid calls for a regulatory probe into a crash in Texas last week that killed two men, involving one of the Tesla Model S electric cars.
An investigation is said to have found that no one was sitting behind the wheel. That has prompted speculation that the autonomous ‘autopilot’ system was running.
Musk has denied that, however, saying data recovered from the car indicates it was not using self-driving software. But American senators are still pushing for a full investigation by federal authorities, and the chief executive is expected to face further questions next week.
Tesla posted its first full-year profit before tax in 2020 and is seeking to remain in the black as it scales up production of its Model 3 and Model Y cars.
Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: ‘With a market cap in excess of the entire automotive sector, the shares have an almost cult-like status among its devotees.
‘However, questions are now being asked as to whether this sort of valuation can be sustained at a time when the likes of GM, Ford and Daimler are starting to ramp up their electric vehicle offerings, and have the ability to scale much quicker.’
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