Tesla Inc. obtained another optimistic endorsement on Friday from the prolific Wedbush analyst, Dan Ives, who raised his share price target by 33%, but has yet to recommend investors to buy the shares.
Ives said the “hearts and lungs” of the bullish investor thesis on the Tesla TSLA,
was centered in China, as consumer demand skyrocketed in 2021, not just for Tesla’s Model 3, but for electric vehicles from “impressive” domestic competitors like Nio Inc. NIO,
Li Auto Inc. LI,
and Xpeng Inc. XPEV,
He said that while competition is increasing, Tesla “remains at the top of the EV mountain”. And given the “robust” demand globally for EVs, Ives now expects Tesla to exceed the 1 million delivery limit by 2022, and said that deliveries could start to approach 5 million a year by the end of the decade.
“While there are more than 150 car manufacturers aggressively pursuing the EV opportunity worldwide, now in the EV market we believe it is the world of Tesla and everyone else is paying rent,” wrote Ives in a note to customers.
He raised his “base” price target for Tesla from $ 715 to $ 950, which is 12.4% above Thursday’s closing price. His target is now the highest of the 37 analysts surveyed by FactSet, and almost double the average target of $ 498.66.
Tesla’s shares rose 0.5% in pre-market trading. It fell 1.1% on Thursday, to close 4.0% below the record closing of January 8, 880.02.
Joe Biden as president and a Democratic-controlled Congress is also expected to provide a breeze in favor of the EV sector, Ives said. “A Blue Senate is very optimistic and a potential ‘game changer’ for Tesla and the general EV sector in the United States, with a more green agenda now certainly in the cards for years to come,” he wrote.
Ives also increased its “safe” target price by 25%, from $ 1,000 to $ 1,250.
However, he reiterated his neutral rating that he has had on Tesla since April 2019. For Wedbush, a neutral rating means that analysts expect the total return on the stock to perform in line with the total medial return on the analyst’s coverage universe. Ives is listed as a business software analyst at Wedbush, and other companies he covers include Apple Inc. AAPL,
Uber Technologies Inc. UBER,
and Zscaler Inc. ZS,
that he evaluates with superior performance.
Tesla shares soared 714.9% in the last 12 months through Thursday, while Apple shares rose 65.6%, Uber rose 62.6% and Zscaler rose 249.8%. At the same time, the S&P 500 SPX index,
gained 15.4%.