JPMorgan's top short ideas for the second half including Tesla

CNBC

2 days ago

Tesla and Moderna are among the stocks JPMorgan advises to sell short heading into the second half of the year. Investors have been largely pushing past the threat of ongoing tariffs placed by the Trump administration on U.S. trading partners. The S & P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite each hit a fresh high on Thursday, illustrating how far the market has come since its significant losses in early April. Still, the S & P 500 ended the week at a loss, a sign of how sentiment remains uneasy amid unpredictable trade policy. As the second half gets underway, the firm's co-head of Americas equities research Pedro Martins Junior surveyed JPMorgan's top-ranked U.S. equity research analysts to find their "most compelling structural and tactical short ideas" for the rest of 2025. These short ideas identify companies that JPMorgan analysts believe will see a decline in share price, giving investors an opportunity to profit from those downturns. The firm gave stock ideas across a variety of sectors, including consumer, health care, technology and energy. Take a look at eight of the short picks below: Tesla, rated underweight by JPMorgan analysts, is one of the firm's top short ideas. Analyst Ryan Brinkman said the electric vehicle company has a "sky-high valuation" compared with the rest of the "Magnificent Seven" tech names, despite his forecast for Tesla's earnings per share to decline for a third consecutive year in 2025. "Reduced EV subsidies threaten already marginal profitability (EBIT margin below GM & Ford). Robo-taxi effort likely to disappoint, given lack of sensor redundancy," Brinkman said about Tesla. Tesla shares are down nearly 22% year to date. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an X post earlier this week that the company is expanding its robotaxi service area in Austin, Texas, and is bringing xAI's controversial AI chatbot Grok to Tesla vehicles. Washing machines and refrigerator manufacturer Whirlpool is another stock JPMorgan views as a strong short pick, primarily due to its high valuation. "We expect WHR to underperform its peers this earnings season, as we point to the stock's strong performance since June 1, up 38%, versus our universe's average 14% gain (ex- WHR; S & P up 6%), as well as its expensive valuation compared to history, trading at EV/EBITDA multiples more than 15% above its 5 and 10-year averages," analyst Michael Rehaut wrote to clients. Shares are down more than 5% year to date. Rehaut is keeping a neutral rating on Whirlpool given the company's potential to benefit from U.S. tariff policies. Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said last month that U.S. duties could add between $50 and $70 to the retail price of appliances made by competing companies, giving Whirlpool a potential edge. The company has touted itself as "a net winner of new tariff policies" since 80% of its products are made domestically. WHR 1Y mountain Whirlpool stock performance. Other stocks JPMorgan says to short are Moderna , Mobileye Global and Shake Shack . The firm is notably bearish on Moderna, which is down 19% for the year even after seeing shares make a more than 20% recovery over the past month. "We do not see a near-term catalyst that is likely to drive MRNA stock significantly higher," analyst Jessica Fye said. "The combination of ongoing cash burn, coupled with regulatory headwinds and legal issues, make MRNA a tough story to be constructive on near-term." Wall Street analysts covering Moderna have a consensus price target that forecasts about 40% upside. But out of the 26 analysts, 18 have a hold rating on shares while three have an underperform rating.