Tesla Hits New High Again as Wall Street Raises Target Price... Will It Reach $650 Next Year?

Shares of U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla hit another all-time high. This came in the wake of a prominent Wall Street Tesla bull sharply raising the target price to $515 per share, while also projecting that the stock could soar to as high as $650 in a bullish market scenario.

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On the 16th (local time) in the New York stock market, Tesla closed at $463.02, up 6.14% from the previous session. This marks an increase of more than 86% since the beginning of the year. Tesla's stock is also continuing its upward trend with gains of around 1.5% in after-hours trading.

At the start of the year, Tesla's stock had been sluggish due to a slowdown in electric vehicle growth, but it began to surge significantly last month following the election victory of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, who supported Trump since his candidacy, has emerged as a close confidant, and analysts believe his strengthened political influence is driving the stock price higher. Since the day after the election on November 6th, Tesla's stock has risen by 84%.

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In particular, the new record high on this day is attributed to a Wall Street report that significantly raised Tesla's target price. Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst known as a Tesla bull, raised the target price from $400 to $515 in an investor memo released the day before. This was an additional increase just one month after he had previously raised the target by $100. He forecasted that Tesla's stock could climb to $650 next year in a bullish scenario. In that case, Tesla's market capitalization would surpass the $2 trillion mark.

Analyst Ives stated, "We estimate that artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving opportunities alone are worth at least $1 trillion, and we expect these key initiatives to accelerate under the second Trump administration," adding, "Tesla's autonomous driving vision will become more concrete." He also analyzed that with Musk, who has become a close confidant of President-elect Trump, intervening in U.S.-China tariff discussions, Tesla might receive some form of tariff exemption. He added, "The second Trump term will completely change the narrative around Tesla and Musk's autonomous driving and AI for the coming years," and "I believe Tesla has begun its march toward reaching a $2 trillion corporate valuation within the next 12 to 18 months."

Earlier, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America (BoA), and Morgan Stanley also raised their target prices for Tesla this month. On the same day, Truist raised its target price from $238 to $360, considering expectations for the robo-taxi service. Previously, the highest target price for Tesla proposed on Wall Street was $420 per share by Daiwa Securities.