Stifel is out with comments on Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) after Consumer Reports removed its purchase recommendation earlier today.

Analyst James Albertine noted that The risk of a reliability related issue is substantial for a manufacturer relying on one or even two primary products, especially among auto manufacturers. Said another way, we view TSLA as having substantially higher "vehicle recall" related risks versus traditional OEMs [...] To the extent the lower CR rating is emblematic of a new issue with the Model S, we would be incrementally concerned as it relates to potential risks to future demand.

However, it seems many, if not all, of the "CR concerns" we find no evidence for any new issues that have not been previously discovered, discussed, and remedied by TSLA over the past 2-3 years. While we cannot confirm the details of the CR analysis, we have included for reference management commentary and recall notice details herein as provided by the NHTSA website for reference.

Albertine also noted: We will endeavor to learn more about this lower Consumer Reports rating, but considering the gravity (and duration) of the findings we find it interesting there have not been more used Model S sedans available for sale. We note of the 1,732,259 used vehicles available for sale on Cars.com (as of our search at 2:30 PM ET today), there are 150 used Tesla Model S sedans for sale, which are primarily 2013 (86 units) and 2014 (40 units) model years. As every used vehicle is unique, it is difficult to triangulate precise residual values, but we found a "2013 base trim" Model S sedan with 77,846 miles for $54,600. Obviously "asking prices" are not "transaction prices", but this seems like a fairly strong indication of residual value strength considering the vehicle was probably $100-110k brand new. We ask, if Model S reliability is so poor, and consumers so frustrated, why has there not been a surge in used TSLA unit supply nor a surge in consumers exercising their manufacturer provided residual value guarantee?

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