Millennials Dump Tesla Stock

Millennials have been unloading Tesla shares a week before the company revealed disappointing Q1 delivery numbers. The company’s Q1 report sent shares falling by more than 8 percent on Thursday (April 4), according to Markets Insider. Tesla is down nearly 20 percent so far this year.

Within the past week, a net 5,600 accounts on trading app Robinhood, which is popular with millennials, left their Tesla position, with the number of accounts holding the automaker’s shares falling by more than 4 percent. That represents the biggest percentage drop of all stocks listed among the app’s top-100 holdings.

Before the company made its Q1 reveal, analysts were predicting a significant drop in deliveries.

Yet, Tesla underperformed even those lowered expectations, delivering 63,000 vehicles compared to the 64,000 vehicles that were expected. Despite the lower numbers, the company reaffirmed its delivery forecast of 360,000 to 400,000 for the year.

“Barring a near-term refresh in these models, we would prepare for the remainder of the year’s volume of S and X to remain weak,” wrote Morgan Stanley Analyst Adam Jonas.

Last month, Tesla announced its move to an online-only sales model, which CEO Elon Musk noted would lower costs and enable the Model 3 to arrive on the market. In addition, the company forecasted that the move could allow lower vehicle prices by about 6 percent. The company also said that the move would let it “achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected.”

That news followed a recent report that Tesla was trying to get its branded merchandise to more shoppers by rolling out a store on Amazon. Tesla already sells a selection of branded items, such as water bottles and jackets, via its website. However, it was said that it took a step to expand its potential reach with the Amazon eCommerce store. The report indicated, though, that the news of the Amazon store had prompted the company to remove it.