Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares came off the boil before the bell in New York after broker Canaccord downgraded the electric car giant to Hold from Buy.
Analysts there reckon investors should wait before buying the stock after the barnstorming share rally Elon Musk's firm has enjoyed.
Tesla shares have zoomed up around 106% in the year to date and are not far off the US$900 mark. Yesterday, the stock surged 17% on the back of an eye-watering 20% surge the day before.
READ: Tesla puts the pedal to the floor as quarterly earnings top estimates
It comes after two impressive quarterly earnings reports in a row. Tesla, which late last year became the planet's largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, has now risen over 3,000% over the past decade.
"While we continue to favor TSLA as the leading EV juggernaut and believe the April battery day will be a critical positive milestone for investors to understand how formidable the lead is that TSLA holds, we believe patient investors will likely get a more attractive entry point," said Canaccord analyst Jed Dorsheimer.
The analyst did hike his Tesla stock target to US$750, but that was considerably below Tuesday's record close of US$887.06.
The Chinese coronavirus is also putting the brakes on optimism. A company executive has revealed that cars initially scheduled for delivery in early February will be delayed due to the outbreak of the killer virus.
Tesla began rolling out Model 3s from its Shanghai Gigafactory to Chinese customers, a potentially huge market, this month but has kept the plant closed after the Lunar New Year following Chinese government guidelines.
"Just as we observed a clear buy signal coming into 2020, we see the risk of China's coronavirus as a clear headwind to the Shanghai facility, suggesting a more pragmatic position," said Canaccord analyst Dorsheimer.
Tesla shares dropped 3.61% in pre-market to US$855 each.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com