Tesla was the worst performing stock in the Cheddar 50 Wednesday, falling more than 7 percent to its lowest level in more than a year.
Shares of the electric automaker were plagued by a downgrade by Moody’s, a crash investigation, and a backlogged production line.
“All those things combined with a skittish technology market...is really weighing on the shares,” explained Efraim Levy, and analyst at CFRA.
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it is opening an investigation into a fatal car crash involving a Tesla in California last week.
The company hasn’t been able to provide many details about what happened and is still “unclear if automated control system was active at time of crash.” This would be Tesla’s second NTSB investigation in as many years.
Also on Tuesday, Moody’s downgraded Tesla’s credit rating because of a “significant shortfall in the production rate of the company’s Model 3 electric vehicle,” the agency said in a release. This delay may then force the company to seek out extra funding.
However, some experts and investors remain bullish on the carmaker’s long term outlook.
CFRA maintains its hold position on the shares.
“Ultimately, the direction that we’re going is more electrification,” said Levy.
“I would never bet against Elon Musk’s ability to raise capital,” said Frederic Lambert, Editor-in-chief of Electrek. “Historically, he’s been very consistent on that front.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cfras-efraim-levy-explains-why-he-maintains-hold-opinion-on-tesla).
High-speed connectivity solutions provider Credo went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday, raising $200 million in its IPO. CEO Bill Brennan, joined Cheddar to discuss its entry into the capital markets and the next chapter for the company. "We're going to be focused on what we have been focused on, which is really creating, creating innovative connectivity solutions that really pushed the edge on efficient power as well as very effective cost," he said.
BD Veritor is a variation of the at-home COVID test that uses a smartphone to interpret the results. The test is taken via a nose swab test strip that is then scanned by your phone’s camera with the result clearly displayed as positive or negative. James Walker, vice president of integrated diagnostics USA for BD, joined Cheddar to discuss how the test hopefully takes the "guesswork out of testing." Walker also went into what BD is doing to deal with the surging demand for at-home tests amid the omicron spread. "While we don't disclose how much we produce, we have capacity to manufacture up to 12 million rapid antigen tests per month and are delivering on our commitments to distributors and retailers," he said.
Low-code app development platform Crowdbotics raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Jackson Square Ventures. Crowdbotics has helped more than 14,000 customers launch apps without having to learn how to code. The company can offer a team of expert developers to help companies launch custom apps, or provide the means for companies to develop apps themselves. Crowdbotics CEO Anand Kulkarni joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Nathan Harding, CEO of Luum, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss the process of having a robot put on eyelash extensions, and how automation is making its way into the beauty industry
Kevin Yu, Founder and CEO of Sidechef, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how it's building a platform to make recipe shopping easy, and how its features help you discover new recipes with the same ingredients to fight the massive problem of food waste.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Sidechef CEO breaks down how it's building a platform to make recipe shopping easy; Luum CEO explains the process of having a robot put on eyelash extensions; A look at Curiosity Stream's new original series, 'Evolve.'
