Investors should hold off on buying more Tesla shares after their recent run-up, Berenberg said. Analyst Adrian Yanoshik downgraded Tesla to hold from buy, saying the electric vehicle stock has less upside from here. Shares are already 52% higher this year. "Tactical price changes reflect cost-leadership strategy: Tesla's new plants offer multi-year opportunity in capital and labour efficiency," Yanoshik wrote to clients on Tuesday. "However, we downgrade our rating to Hold now that our Buy thesis – based on misplaced fears of a price war – appears to have been accepted by the market." Investors piled into the stock this year as Tesla unveiled a series of price cuts to drive greater electric vehicle adoption and claim market share — a decision that appears to have stoked demand with CEO Elon Musk saying Tesla is seeing orders of about twice the rate of production . Tesla most recently cut prices on the Model S and Model X , its two most expensive models in the U.S. "We argued that Tesla can take market share at a gross margin of c25% (excluding credits), which indeed is where we see investor expectations heading for 2024," Yanoshik wrote. Even so, the analyst said he prefers other automakers in his coverage, as the valuation now "leaves less room for disappointment. His $210 price target implies shares could rise about 11% from Tuesday's closing price. The stock was down more than 1% in the Wednesday premarket. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
