The New Tesla Model Y Gets Chilly Reception and Drives Company Shares Down This is despite Elon Musk's prediction that it will outsell all the company's other models combined.
By Andrew Osterland •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
New vehicle introductions are usually a slam-dunk for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk. Not the Tesla Model Y, the company's second electric SUV that was unveiled this morning.
Mr. Musk was his ebullient self, predicting that the model would outsell the company's models X, S and 3 combined. The "cross-over" utility vehicle gives Tesla a second product in the hottest segment of the automotive market. One analyst, however, called the vehicle underwhelming, and others were worried about Tesla's ability to finance production of the new model and to deliver it on time.
The company plans to bring the first and most expensive ($60,000) version of the Y model to market by the fall of next year. Tesla shares fell 4.99 percent -- the biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™ today.
Investors were more optimistic about other stocks, in part because of further encouraging signs on the U.S.-China trade negotiations. The major indexes all had nice gains today closing out one of the better weeks in the market this year. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were up 0.54 percent and 0.5 percent respectively while the Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.76 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ was up 0.08 percent.
The technology sector was generally positive today. Cognizant Technology and Amazon.com were up 1.69 percent and 1.55 percent respectively. NVIDIA Corp., up 2.57 percent, posted the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ today. Both Facebook and Adobe Systems Inc., however, had sharp declines. Adobe was down 3.96 percent after the company reported first quarter earnings and revenues above estimates but issued guidance for the second quarter that was below expectations. The stock is up 13.6 percent this year.
Facebook, meanwhile, was down 2.46 percent after falling nearly two percent yesterday. Several factors are hurting the stock. The global outages on the company's Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms continued to pose problems yesterday. The company also announced today that two senior executives, Chris Cox, chief product officer, and Chris Daniels, head of the business development team would be leaving the company. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were also scrambling to take down videos of the mosque shooting in New Zealand from their networks.
Related: Elon Musk Unveils Tesla's Model Y Compact SUV
L Brands bounced back from a more than three percent decline yesterday, rising 1.33 percent today. Other retailers, however, continued to fall. Bed Bath & Beyond, down almost three percent yesterday, fell another 4.61 percent today--the second biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™. Gap Inc. was also down 0.9 percent after an almost two percent drop yesterday.
The REIT sector was also weak with eight of nine REITs on the Entrepreneur Index™ in the red. Simon Property Group (-2.06 percent) and Boston Properties (-1.87 percent), had the biggest declines.
Other prominent gains on the index today included asset manager Franklin Resources (2.52 percent), Estee Lauder Companies (1.72 percent), and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (1.71 percent).
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
