Tesla (NASDAQ:) has been making advances in electric cars for years. The market was left with mixed emotions after one of the company’s latest innovations.

This news is huge. However, a closer look at Tesla’s overall picture makes me less optimistic. This is not a common sentiment.

Tesla made it clear that its Full Self-Driving Beta Program was now open to additional drivers late Friday. (See Tesla stock charts on TipRanks)

Drivers had to request access to the beta, and then the driver’s “safety score” would be evaluated in order for the driver to gain access. To determine how likely an individual is to be in a collision, the safety score considers five points.

Those points include: how hard the vehicle has braked, how hard the vehicle has turned, the vehicle’s average follow distance to other vehicles, the number of forward collision warnings the vehicle has issued to the driver, and Forced Autopilot Disengagement (those times when the car’s Autopilot feature shuts down because the driver took his or her hands off the wheel and became “inattentive”).

While Tesla notes that the average driver will have a “safety score” of around 80 out of 100, Tesla didn’t note just what kind of score was needed to qualify for the Full Self-Driving beta.

Wall Street’s Take

Wall Street consensus analysis calls Tesla a Hold. Based on 26 analysts who have provided 12-month price targets to the company in the last three month, that’s the conclusion. There have been 12 Buy ratings on Tesla by analysts, as well seven Holds and seven Sell ratings.

It is not easy to predict where Tesla’s price targets will fall. Tesla’s current price target is $690.18. This includes a $1,200 high and $150 low targets. This represents an 11.2% downside risk.

Disturbing Troubles on a Pricey Stock

Tesla is a puzzling proposition for investors. It’s the market leader in electric cars, by quite a large margin. You won’t find anything else that can be described as a self-driving vehicle anywhere else. These advances are not even counting the advancements Tesla has made with battery technology.

But, it’s still obvious that Tesla failed to make the right decisions to achieve this level of success.

Tesla’s owner posted the following issue to Twitter (NYSE. While driving to dinner, the Tesla he was driving issued a disturbing warning via a message that read “Vehicle May Not Restart: Service Required.” That’s problem enough for anyone, except this message came with two other problems: the vehicle locked up while displaying that message, and the vehicle locked up in the middle of a highway lane.

Before the Tesla made itself into an expensive paperweight, the driver was forbidden from pulling off to the shoulder. Intriguingly, the driver was informed that he must pull over right away. The vehicle did not allow the driver to follow its instructions and slowed down to stop in front of six lanes.

It’s not the only problem. The Tesla fires were an important story for much of 2020. But EV fires isn’t just an issue for Tesla. General Motors (NYSE 🙂 advised Chevy Bolt owners to not park their Bolts within 50 feet from another vehicle.

Concluding Views

Tesla has made a lot of headway by being on the cutting edge of automotive technology. Incredible advances are balanced against unfulfilled expectations. The stock’s performance in 2017 has been an incredible rollercoaster.

Although it may be able to push the stock back to previous highs or even hit the high price targets again, this ride isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Tesla has many problems. This makes Tesla’s premium pricing seem too high to be affordable.

Disclosure: Steve Anderson had no position at the time this article was published.

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