Goldman Sachs: Tesla Inc (TSLA) Customer Data Trending Negative Ahead of Earnings Report

Customers and potential buyers just may not be that into Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) any longer. That’s one of the assessments of Goldman Sachs, which has taken a look at the electric vehicle maker in advance of earnings.

Street Insider shares Goldman’s take on Tesla.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Tamberrino previewed Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) Q2 earnings due on Wednesday 8/1. The analyst said key focus areas revolve around (1) sustainability of Model 3 production, (2) pace and demand-variants of Model 3 order conversion, (3) margin improvement potential, and (4) FCF burn.

Tamberrino also highlighted that in collaboration with the Goldman Sachs Data Works team they introduce a new analysis on Model 3 sentiment based off social media posts. The data potentially points to waning customer enthusiasm for the vehicle as order availability and test drives have increased, he said.

Goldman Sachs has found that weekly posts on the Model 3 have declined from roughly 4,400 per week in 2016 to about 3,000 per week so far this year. Positive skew has also declined precipitously during the same period, from 18 percent to 4.5 percent.

The firm is standing by its sell rating and $195 price target for shares of Tesla.

Tesla Inc shares fell $2.92 (-0.98%) in premarket trading Monday. Year-to-date, TSLA has declined -4.55%, versus a 6.35% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

TSLA currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of C (Neutral), and is ranked #9 of 24 stocks in the Auto & Vehicle Manufacturers category.