Tesla (TSLA) Fell on Declining Analyst Expectations

Baron Funds, an investment management firm, released its “Focused Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Q1 was a difficult start to the year. The fund declined 7.95% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s (the Benchmark) 10.80% return. Please spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know more about their top bets for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Focused Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, as well as energy generation and storage systems. The one-month return of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was 1.48%, and its shares gained 58.09% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 7, 2025, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock closed at $276.22 per share with a market capitalization of $889.694 billion.

Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) manufactures electric vehicles (EVs), solar products, and energy storage solutions alongside the development of advanced real-world AI technologies. Shares fell due to declining analyst expectations for auto delivery volume and margins in 2025 as a result of 1) a refresh of the Model Y, its highest volume vehicle and the world’s best selling car in 2024; 2) Elon Musk’s controversial role in the Trump administration; and 3) regulatory changes that could pose potential operational challenges. Despite these headwinds, we remain confident in Tesla’s long-term growth, underpinned by secular trends in EVs and energy storage adoption, a compelling product line, its leading cost structure, and cutting-edge technology. A Model Y refresh alongside the debut of new mass-market models should boost demand. Over time, we expect the political pressure to fade, while Tesla’s AI ambitions—a robotaxi service launching this year and a fast-growing humanoid program—hold the promise of transforming its growth story."

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is in 23rd position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 126 hedge fund portfolios held Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 99 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and shared AI stocks getting Wall Street’s attention. The Q1 2025 letter from Aristotle Atlantic Large Cap Growth Strategy talked about Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.