GP: Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an event at the site of the company's manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019.

With Tesla's stock sinking to around $200 this week, Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, told CNBC on Tuesday that the electric car company could have sold to Apple six years ago for a significantly higher price per share.

"Around 2013, there was a serious bid from Apple at around $240 a share," Irwin said in an interview on "Squawk Box." "This is something we did multiple checks on. I have complete confidence that this is accurate. Apple bid for Tesla. I don't know if it got to a formal paperwork stage, but I know from multiple different sources that this was very credible."

Apple and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

Tesla is down more than 38% in 2019, to a share price of $197.76 at the start of trading Tuesday. The stock has plunged 46% from its high in August, when CEO Elon Musk said he had "funding secured" to take the company private at $420 a share.

Knowing there was a "very credible" bid on the table in 2013 keeps Irwin from being more bearish on the stock today.

"If Apple had interest then, they would probably have interest now at the right price," he said.