Tesla Stock Sells Off on CFO Departure Announcement

An Aug. 7 regulatory filing by Tesla TSLA revealed Zach Kirkhorn has stepped down as chief financial officer and will leave the company at the end of 2023. Until then, he will stay on to help with the transition. Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s chief accounting officer, has assumed the CFO role.

Since this announcement was not accompanied by any other news, we see no reason to change our outlook for Tesla. We maintain our $215 fair value estimate and narrow moat rating for the firm.

Tesla shares were down more than 2% at the time of writing as the market reacted negatively to the leadership change. We still view the company’s shares as slightly overvalued, trading in 3-star territory but 15% above our fair value estimate. Accordingly, we recommend investors wait for the stock to trade below our fair value estimate and offer a margin of safety before considering an entry point.

Kirkhorn had been with Tesla for 13 years and had served as CFO for the last four years. Taneja has been chief accounting officer since 2019, having joined Tesla through its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016. Given his executive experience at the company, we think he is more than capable of stepping into the CFO role.