Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to keep up-to-the-second on breaking news in the electric vehicle and clean energy space, as well as which stocks in these sectors that the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.
From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM(GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.
SALES DECLINE: Tesla’s sales plunged in April across Europe, including an 81% decline in Sweden and a 74% drop in the Netherlands, Reuters’ Alessandro Parodi reported on Friday. The EV maker’s sales have dropped for four consecutive months across much of Europe. For the first quarter, sales of all fully electric cars rose 28% in Europe while Tesla’s sales slumped 37.2%, according to the report.
MUSK TO REMAIN CEO: Commenting on the Wall Street Journal’s report saying the Tesla Board of Directors began to look for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk in March as tensions were reaching a boiling point over him joining the Trump Administration as brand damage was getting to the point of no return, Wedbush says the firm believes Musk will remain CEO for at least five years at Tesla and that it would be surprised if the Board was still heading down this search path as of today. Wedbush continues to think Musk’s days at the White House are now ending after this “warning shot” from the Tesla Board. The firm has an Outperform rating on the shares with a price target of $350.
Click here to check out Tesla’s recent Media Buzz Sentiment as measured by TipRanks.
DELIVERIES: Nio (NIO) announced its April delivery results. The Company delivered 23,900 vehicles in April, representing an increase of 53% year-over-year. The deliveries consisted of 19,269 vehicles from the company’s smart electric vehicle brand Nio, 4,400 vehicles from the company’s family-oriented smart electric vehicle brand Onvo, and initial deliveries of the company’s small smart high-end electric car brand Firefly, which started in late April. Cumulative deliveries reached 737,558 as of April 30.
XPeng (XEPV) also announced its vehicle delivery results for April. In April, XPeng delivered 35,045 Smart EVs, marking a 273% increase year-over-year, surpassing 30,000 units for the six consecutive month. Cumulative deliveries of XPeng Mona M03 had surpassed 100,000 units. The XPeng P7+ achieved its 50,000th vehicle production milestone in five months since its launch. For the first four months of 2025, XPeng delivered 129,053 Smart EVs, representing a 313% increase compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Li Auto (LI) announced that it delivered 33,939 vehicles in April, representing a year-over-year increase of 31.6%. As of April 30, Li Auto’s cumulative deliveries reached 1,260,675.
Lastly, in April, Zeekr Group (ZK) delivered a total of 41,316 vehicles across its Zeekr and Lynk & Co brands, marking a 1.5% increase compared to the previous month. Specifically, the Zeekr brand delivered 13,727 vehicles, while Lynk & Co delivered 27,589 vehicles.
BATTERY RESERVE: Rivian Automotive built a reserve of electric-vehicle batteries from Asia ahead of President Trump’s tariffs, Ed Ludlow of Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Rivian directly acquired a supply of lithium iron phosphate cells from China’s Gotion High-Tech Co. late last year, ahead of the election, sources told Bloomberg. More recently, the company worked with cell supplier Samsung SDI to move a large amount of battery inventory to the U.S. from South Korea, the people added.
BULLISH ON FIRST SOLAR: GLJ Research upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to Buy from Hold with a $172.37 price target. The stock came under pressure following reduced 2025 guidance, which was worse than expected. However, the firm’s view is that First Solar has taken its trade war-driven “guidance revision medicine” and that the 45x production-tax-credits will remain “largely intact.” Given that view, GLJ sees the risk/reward as favorable at the current price and upgrades the shares as it expects First Solar to “materially outperform its peers.”
MORE BEARISH ON FIRST SOLAR: More bearish on the name, Jefferies downgraded First Solar to Hold from Buy with a price target of $127, down from $202. The firm cites a weaker near-term backdrop. The company revised guidance to a range of worst case on the low end of elevated reciprocal tariffs and status quo at the high end, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Jefferies says margin compression remains a key concern as First Solar navigates the current environment. Given this backdrop, the firm expects better share entry points as the tariff situation evolves. While First Solar is doing its best to tackle near-term, headwinds, it “will be painful along the way,” says Jefferies.
Oppenheimer also downgraded First Solar to Perform from Outperform without a price target following the Q1 miss. With tariff and tax policy uncertainty hanging over its business, First Solar is “taking a hard line on plans for managing through the situation,” the firm told investors in a research note. Oppenheimer says management indicated a willingness to idle capacity should President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs take effect without cost sharing from customers. First Solar also indicated an inability to begin negotiations with customers until it had better visibility to both potential tariff and Inflation Reduction Act adjustments. The firm believes uncertainty on timing of policy resolution suggests the low-end of the company’s 2025 guidance is a “realistic scenario.” It downgrades First Solar to hold pending further policy clarity.
Lastly, KeyBanc downgraded First Solar to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $100 price target. The company reported Q1 results below estimates and lowered fiscal 2025 guidance and revised bookings downward to reflect the impacts of global tariffs implemented earlier this month, the firm toldd investors in a research note. KeyBanc noted that while First Solar has sizable domestic manufacturing capacity that is used to serve the U.S. market, the impact of volumes imported from its facilities in Vietnam, Malaysia, and India appears to be greater than initially thought, and not likely to be mitigated in the near-term under the 10% global tariff regime or higher “reciprocal” tariffs. The uncertainty “is pancaked on top of broader anxiety over the fate of various” Inflation Reduction Act provisions, and will put pressure on the stock’s valuation, contends the firm.
BUY BLOOM ENERGY: Mizuho upgraded Bloom Energy (BE) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $26, down from $28. The firm sees “asymmetric risk/reward upside” for Bloom from marginal orders from utilities or other large load customers. Bloom’s technology can help meet power demand today, while its combined cycle gas turbines are sold out for 4-7 years, transmission upgrades are delayed 7-11 years in some states, and lower emissions offer a faster time to market versus backup generators, the firm tells investors in a research note. Mizuho believes the company has managed tariffs, as evident in reaffirmed 2025 guidance despite 100 basis points of impact to gross margins from U.S. reciprocal tariffs.
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