Tesla shares close lower on Friday, auto maker hopes to build first cars at Berlin “gigafactory” this October

Tesla Inc’s (TSLA) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said last week that the company hoped to manufacture the first vehicles at its “gigafactory” in Gruenheide, near Berlin, in October.

The US electric car maker has pushed back the expected opening of the German gigafactory to late 2021 due to local bureaucratic hurdles.

“We’re looking forward to hopefully getting the approval to make the first cars maybe in October if we are fortunate,” Tesla’s CEO said during a visit to the facility with Armin Laschet, Germany’s conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor.

Still, the environmental agency in Brandenburg is expected to give a final approval for the facility, which could lead to a further delay, even until next year.

Tesla shares closed lower for the fourth time in the past ten trading sessions on NASDAQ on Friday. It has also been the steepest single-session loss since August 6th. The stock went down 0.70% ($5.08) to $717.17, after touching an intraday high at $729.90. The latter has been a price level not seen since April 26th ($749.30).

Shares of Tesla Inc have risen 1.63% so far in 2021 compared with an 18.95% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2020, Tesla Inc’s stock went up 743.40%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 16.26% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 13 out of 26 surveyed investment analysts had rated Tesla Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 7 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $709.61.