Tesla falls after report of SAP snub, Piper Sandler price target cut

(Reuters) - Shares of Tesla fell nearly 6% on Monday after a report said German software firm SAP will no longer procure electric cars from the U.S. automaker, and Piper Sandler cut its stock price target on lower delivery expectations this year.

Shares of the Elon Musk-led company fell 5.7% to $177.27 on Monday, hitting their lowest since May 2023. The stock has fallen 28% this year.

The decline was accelerated after the company last month forecast "notably lower" growth for deliveries in 2024, compared with a 21% rise last year.

If losses hold, the world's most valuable automaker could lose about $34 billion in market capitalization. The stock had shed about $193 billion up to Friday's close, this year.

German publication Handelsblatt said in a report that SAP will no longer source company cars from Tesla due to delay in deliveries and price fluctuations.

Still, Tesla's stock was trading at 57.75 times its 12-month forward earnings estimates, compared with 24.10 and 40.97 for Meta Platforms and Amazon.com, the EV maker's peers among the Magnificent Seven stocks.

Separately, Piper Sandler said it expects deliveries of 1.93 million vehicles this year, representing a growth rate of about 7%, well below the long-term annual target of 50% that Musk set about three years ago.

"Also, due to an aging product lineup, more price cuts may be necessary," said the brokerage, which slashed its price target to $225 from $295.

Though Tesla has refreshed the styling and some features of the Model 3 compact sedan, CEO Elon Musk last year warned of sluggish consumer demand due to high interest rates.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)