Anyone closely following Tesla has surely seen the media shift in recent months. Where Tesla was once constantly the target of spun stories and articles detailing its follies and lack of potential, analysts and writers have been joining the bull theorists in droves.
As of 10:00am EST, Tesla ($TSLA) traded at $334.91 per share, down 0.39% from yesterday's close; as compared to the S&P 500, which weighed in at $3115.96, up 0.74% from yesterday's close.
Piper Jaffray, an investment bank based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, raised their price target for Tesla more than 25%, from its previous price target of $372 to $423. Alex Potter, a Piper Jaffray analyst, wrote in a letter on Monday regarding his decision, "If you're looking for an investment in the auto industry, Tesla is a must-own stock." Potter continued in his letter to estimate that Tesla could own more than 20% of the luxury sedan and luxury SUV market in the U.S. by 2023.
Potter described Tesla as a "disrupter" in the automotive industry. This price target increase comes after Piper Jaffray lowered their price target on 18 October 2019 by about 4%. Despite many skeptics' claims, Potter is now confidant that Tesla will sell more than 200,000 Cybertrucks by 2023, claiming that although he was originally skeptical of the truck's potential, he "began considering the possibility that all other pickup trucks might actually be pretty crummy, and that Tesla's Cybertruck is the only pickup worth ordering."
Potter is one of many analysts raising their price targets for Tesla in recent months.
On 18 December 2019, Deutsche Bank increased their price target by 12% to $290.
On 22 November 2019, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target to $220.
On 11 November 2019, Jeffries Financial Group raised their price target by 33% to $400.
On 24 October 2019, OppenheimerFunds raised their price target by 8% to $385.
On 21 August 2019, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. raised their price target to $325.
It's no surprise that analysts are coming on board. Tesla has been ahead of schedule on many long-term projects and is looking promising in terms of production output and independence.
As of now, many analysts are still behind. Analysts have long-since claimed that Tesla stock is inflated and misrepresents the value of the company. Tesla is setting up for a record-breaking year in 2020, and many analysts are left playing catch-up with their price targets. In an attempt to save face in the midst of bad predictions, many targets are being raised, though some more stubborn analysts may still need time to fully understand Tesla's traction. Targets and predictions aside, Tesla is ready to charge full-force into 2020.
