Long-term Tesla bull Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised the price target on the Elon Musk-led company on Friday to $500 a month before Tesla starts providing the first driverless rides in the US.
In a new research note, Ives says the firm believes penetration of Tesla’s full self driving software “could increase to 50%+ and change the financial model/margins for Tesla looking ahead.”
The firm previously had a price target of $350 on the stock. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating in Friday’s update.
Tesla shares closed nearly 2% higher on Thursday at $341. The new price target implies an upside potential of 46.6%.
Wedbush said it had never viewed Tesla “simply as a car company” but as a “leading disruptive technology global player” instead.
In Friday’s note, Ives says Tesla “remains the most undervalued AI play in the market today.”
“There will be many setbacks….but given its unmatched scale and scope globally we believe Tesla has the opportunity to own the autonomous market and down the road license its technology to other auto players both in the US and around the globe,” he stated before commenting on Tesla rivals in autonomy.
“Waymo will also be a winner and Uber will benefit in autonomous…but we see the true autonomous winner as Tesla and over the coming year more investors will recognize this AI vision.”
Tesla’s country chief for the Australian market said this weekthat the company’s supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) system will have no “regulatory blocks” to deploy in the market.
Earlier this week, Musk said Tesla has “already turned around.” Commenting on the recent sales performance, the CEO said Europe is Tesla’s “weakest market” while guaranteeing that figures are “strong everywhere else.”
