Tesla has had a tough 2024, with its shares down 34% yr thus far. However the electric-vehicle area on the whole is having a troublesome time, and, comparatively talking, Elon Musk’s carmaker is sitting fairly, believes one trade observer.CFRA automotive analyst Garrett Nelson, talking to Fox Enterprise this week, famous that Tesla rival Fisker lately employed restructuring advisors amid discuss of a doable chapter. And main automakers, he added, are turning their focus extra to hybrids—which give homeowners higher gasoline effectivity with out the vary anxiousness—as EV gross sales progress slows down.“That actually opens up a lane for Tesla to develop their market share much more within the coming years,” Nelson stated.Whereas Musk’s carmaker faces challenges in China, the place EV competitors is intense, Nelson stated, “we form of view Tesla as the most effective home on a foul block within the Western market.”One other signal of that “unhealthy block” was Tesla rival Rivian—amid doubts about its long-term prospects—lately saying it might delay building of a manufacturing unit in Georgia and get monetary savings by as a substitute constructing its upcoming new fashions at its present plant in Illinois.“There’s lots of misery going down within the EV trade,” Nelson stated.In fact, Tesla had its personal existential struggles as an EV startup not so way back.However Tesla at this time, Nelson stated, “is loads totally different than the corporate of three or 4 years in the past. The corporate has an investment-grade steadiness sheet. They’re sitting on greater than $29 billon of money, hardly any debt.”One factor that’s modified since then is Musk shopping for Twitter, now X, and happening to voice or amplify generally controversial positions on the platform.On Thursday, Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Funding Administration, voiced frustration with Musk’s management and public conduct whereas talking to Yahoo Finance. “The unique story that I believe most traders purchased into with Tesla did not actually embrace Elon and Twitter…For a very long time, all of us hoped that it actually would not have an effect on Tesla and the demand for its merchandise,” Gerber stated. “Everyone knows that that has now occurred. The demand for Tesla merchandise is clearly decrease. They’ve needed to low cost and do many issues that harm margins and returns and, finally, earnings for Tesla.”Story continuesAs for Nelson, when requested if Musk’s “erratic and compulsive conduct” had performed a task within the inventory’s decline, he answered, “In fact it does. The inventory worth displays all out there info concerning the corporate, together with Musk’s conduct.”However, he argued, the pullback in Tesla share was overdue: “If you happen to look, final yr Tesla shares greater than doubled, and so for the inventory to have a 30% pullback or so is just not all that stunning.”His agency has purchased the dip, he stated, with a goal worth of $275, up from $164 at this time.This story was initially featured on Fortune.com