Tesla shares reached a new nine-month high in early Monday trading after Piper Sandler increased its price target by 25% to $500.
After sharp losses in the first half of the year, the stock is now less than 10% below its record high of $488.54 set late last year.
As revealed by Tesla shareholder Sawyer Merritt, the company secured on Friday approval from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
The permit allows the Elon Musk-led company to begin testing autonomous vehicles on public roads with safety drivers, extending its robotaxi testing program to another state.
Additionally, as reported on Saturday, Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen said the company has considered developing a Cyber SUV or a smaller version of the Cybertruck, though he stopped short of confirming any future release.
“That’s definitely all things that we’ve considered,” von Holzhausen said when asked on Bloomberg’s Hot Pursuitpodcast if Tesla would explore a more compact Cyber-style model. “I think, you know, wait and see is probably maybe the best way to answer.”
The remarks come after Tesla included a Cyber SUV model in its “Sustainable Abundance” video released earlier this month.
Tesla’s rally has accelerated in recent weeks, with shares up 26.8% in the past month, 8.9% year-to-date and nearly 76% over the past year.
Elon Musk was seen seated next to Donald Trump at a memorial for Charlie Kirk over the weekend, the first public appearance of the two together since May — when Musk stepped down from his special role at the Department of Government Efficiency.
In a new research note — and without naming the Chinese carmaker — Piper Sandler analyst Alex Potter said one of the Chinese carmakers mentioned Tesla as the frontrunner.
The analyst raised the price target to $500 (from $400), following a trip to China.
“After meeting with Chinese EV makers, we can see why Elon Musk respects these ‘fast followers’ so much,” Potter wrote. “Indeed, vertically integrated Chinese OEMs may be Tesla’s #1 competitive threat.”
Piper Sandler’s analyst enhanced Tesla‘s leadership position in ‘real word artificial intelligence.’
“But when it comes to ‘real world’ A.I., these companies look to Tesla for guidance — not the other way around,” he wrote. “In the words of one company, ‘Without Tesla going from 0 to 1, we can’t go from 1 to 100.’”
“Bottom line: TSLA remains our top idea for investing in autonomous vehicles and robotics,” the analyst added.,
Potter added that Piper sees the catalyst path as more important to the valuation “than 2026 estimates.”
“It now seems FSD v14 will be released any day; we think this will prompt a higher multiple,” he wrote.
Tesla has come under scrutiny from national and California regulators for not fully disclosing details of its driverless ride-hailing rollout in the Bay Area.
Reuters reported earlier this Monday that the concerns were outlined in late July emails between the California State Transportation Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
