We all have that one friend who treats Tesla like a religion. You know the type… their entire personality revolves around Elon tweets, Cybertruck memes, and reminding you that every stock dip is just "a discount on future riches." When Tesla is struggling, who rushes in like a superhero with a Twitter thread and some serious mental gymnastics? Normally, you'd think of Cathie Wood, the queen of market cap hallucinations, whose Tesla target of $2,600 by 2029 makes you wonder if she’s been hanging out with Snoop Dogg.

But step aside, Cathie… there’s someone who might be even more pants-off for Tesla than you. None other than Dan Ives, the Wedbush analyst who is more ride or die to Elon than Bonnie was to Clyde.

Tesla’s stock has taken a 30% dump in 2025… the kind of drop that makes even the most devoted fans start selling stock (even as they post on Twitter that they’re holding). But not Dan Ives. Nah, he’s gonna go up or down with the ship. He’s out here making media rounds, defending Tesla like a Harvey Spectre from Suits.

Ives issued a forceful defense of Tesla, calling this a "gut check moment" for the stock (and his portfolio, probably). He added Tesla onto Wedbush’s "Best Ideas List" and reaffirmed his $550 price target, even as the stock tumbles in real time. If you’re wondering, that’s the highest Tesla price target among 48 Wall Street analysts. Most of them are at a far more reasonable $346. But Ives is all in on the autonomous robotaxi future that Tesla has been teasing for years… despite not even having a functioning Full Self-Driving system.

"We continue to believe the best thing that ever happened to Musk and Tesla was Trump in the White House," Ives wrote, adding that a deregulatory environment would be crucial for Tesla’s "golden strategic vision." That’s a fun theory, except Tesla’s stock chart seems to be telling a different story.

Ironically, while Ives is out here playing hype man, Tesla’s own executives are pulling the ejector seat. CFO Vaibhav Taneja cashed in another $718,000 in shares, bringing his 90-day total to $8 million. That’s on top of Tesla’s board chair and, of course, Musk’s brother Kimbal, who has a legendary track record of selling Tesla stock at peak prices. (Seriously, if you just short Tesla every time Kimbal sells, you’d probably outperform Cathie Wood’s ARK fund.)

And let’s not forget the broader context here… Tesla sales in Germany cratered 76% last month after a production shutdown. The Model Y refresh rollout has been less than smooth, and European demand is looking anemic.

(Source: Social Nation)

Look, even the most dedicated Tesla bulls have to admit that things aren’t looking great. The stock has given up all its gains from Trump’s election rally. But Ives doesn’t care. He still sees a path to a $2 trillion Tesla. His reasoning is that AI, autonomous driving, and robotics will take him and his Tesla cult members to the promised land. Basically, he’s betting on Tesla executing on ideas they’ve been talking about for years but haven’t quite delivered yet.

So, the question is… are you buying the dip? Either way, expect Ives to be out here with a fresh round of Tesla copium every time the stock tanks another 5%.

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Stock.News has positions in Tesla.