Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill initiated coverage of Tesla Inc. with a hold rating on Friday. "In our view, the company is in a race against time," Gill wrote. "Our comprehensive checks on Model 3 production point to manufacturing problems, particularly at the battery cell level, module assembly and factory automation lines." He predicts that Tesla won't reach "full production" on the Model 3 for another year and said that if Tesla does meet its production targets, that may come at the expense of margins "as we believe the yields on the battery packs are still low and will take substantial time to ramp." Tesla shares are up 0.4% in premarket trading but down 16% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 11% in that time.