Tesla is in a bubble and it’s going down ‘, says the top fund manager

Shares of electric car maker Tesla will fall sharply as interest rates rise after the coronavirus crisis, Lansdowne Partners fund manager Per Lekander told CNBC.

Lekander told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday that he thinks Tesla is in a bubble and that he does not have Elon Musk’s firm, which means he will benefit if the value of Tesla’s stock falls.

Tesla’s market value rose to more than $ 800 billion in the twelve months to January, before falling to less than $ 600 billion in February. It now stands at about $ 679 billion.

“My opinion is that this year will be the return for the incumbents,” Lekander said. He cites German carmaker Volkswagen, valued at 119 billion euros ($ 141 billion), as a company he is particularly strong at.

“There are some golden nuggets that I think will be long-term winners. But in the short term, I think, if I’m right in the macro call that interest rates are rising and the market is waking up (the fact that) the incumbents are not so badly positioned is like what they think, yes, I think Tesla is going down. “

Some other market viewers are unlikely to agree with the forecast. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, for example, believes Tesla’s shares will recover after a volatile start to the year.

“Tesla’s success has increased its EV (electric vehicle) initiatives and demand in China for the month of March, which will catalyze equities higher after a shaky January and a strong February,” Ives said on Monday. a remark said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Lekander drew comparisons to the 1999 dot-com boom.

“When you think of the visionaries who talked about the Internet in 1999, if you listen to it now, they’re actually underestimating what happened,” he said. “The development was even more drastic than what happened.”

He pointed out that Cisco – probably a poster child for that period – had a much higher market value than in 2000. “This did not prevent it from declining by 80% at first,” he said.

The equivalent in Europe was probably Nokia, Lekander added, saying it had also decreased by 80%.

“I think that’s what we’re going to see here in this technical specification hype space,” he said.

Last month, Tesla revealed that it had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. Technological research firm Wedbush estimates that the company has already earned $ 1.2 billion on its investment.

Tesla has officially given CEO Musk the title ‘Technoking of Tesla’ in a new regulatory filing.

Musk will retain his position as CEO, Tesla said. Zach Kirkhorn, the company’s chief financial officer, has also been given a new title: ‘Master of Coin’.

“We believe this indicates that Musk sees Tesla as more of a technological disruption in the future, especially with robots, FSD (full self-government) and major advances in battery technology on the horizon at Tesla,” Ives said.