Tempering the hype Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, tempered the Tesla hype with a dose of reality. He says that the “promise of more – and revolutionary – developments” in AV and production, coupled with expected de-regulation, are the only things keeping Tesla’s stock afloat after the 60% rally since the presidential election. On Musk’s claims that Tesla’s auto business will “return to growth” this year, Monteiro says there are “few reasons to believe that right now.” EV demand is soft across the board and the hype around Tesla is trending down, “mainly due to the lack of new and exciting innovations over the past few years but also due to severe brand devaluation.” “Most importantly, Musk & Co haven’t come close to figuring out how to get more cars out on the street without severe margin compression,” Monteiro said. “As we hold on to the promise of future developments that will improve the operation on that side, time goes by, and Tesla remains the same ever-sluggish operation quarter after quarter.”