Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock lost ground Wednesday amid a wild day of trading that saw the market sell off on first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data and then rebound following an indication that trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are underway. The company's share price fell 3.4% in the daily session and had been off as much as 7.4% earlier in trading.
Despite the S&P 500 bouncing back from a big pullback and closing the day out up 0.1%, Tesla stock fell as investors concentrated on weaker-than-anticipated Q1 GDP performance. Due to a surge in imports ahead of tariffs implemented by the Trump administration at the beginning of this month, GDP fell 0.3% in Q1 -- missing economists' forecast for growth of 0.4%.
Imports are subtracted from GDP, and the surge in purchases for foreign products caused a contraction for the measure of economic performance.
Along with the GDP data, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose only 1.8% year over year in Q1, falling from growth of 4% in the prior-year quarter. The new GDP and consumer-tracking data raised concerns that the U.S. economy could slip into recession, and recessionary environments tend to be hard on the auto market. Tesla stock is up 12.5% over the last week, but it's still down 30% across this year's trading.
Is Tesla stock a buy now?
Tesla is now valued at roughly 147 times this year's expected earnings and approximately nine times this year's expected sales. Given recent performance for the business, the stock continues to look quite risky at current levels. A 20% year-over-year decline for the company's core auto business pushed overall sales down 9% in Q1, and net income sank 71% compared to the prior-year period.
The June rollout of the company's robotaxi service in Austin, Texas could provide bullish catalysts for the stock, and news about manufacturing for its Optimus humanoid robots could also create positive momentum for its share price. But these potentially powerful new growth drivers will take time to scale.
Despite the company being poised to launch a new, lower-cost version of its Model Y vehicle this year, it's likely that significant headwinds will persist for the auto business. With the stock still trading at highly growth-dependent multiples despite a challenging near-term outlook, I'd hold off on buying the stock for now.
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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
