Investor's Corner
Tesla’s top bull just raised his outlook for the automaker again
Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) top bull Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities has raised his outlook on the electric automaker’s stock, indicating the company could own around half of the massive $5 trillion U.S. EV market.
“We believe there is $5 trillion of EV auto market dollars up for grabs with Tesla likely to own $2.5 trillion of this pie,” Ives said on Thursday night. Ives attributes at least $400 per share to Tesla’s growth story in China. Ives raised Wedbush’s price target on Tesla shares from $1,100 to $1,400, while simultaneously bringing the bull case to $1,800.
Tesla shares were trading at $1,103.73, up .67% as of 10:49 ET.
We believe there is $5 trillion of EV auto market dollars up for grabs with Tesla likely to own $2.5 trillion of this pie. We estimate China is worth $400 per share to the Tesla story for 2022 and raising our price target from $1,100 to $1,400 with our bull case $1,800.
— Daniel Ives (@DivesTech) November 19, 2021
Ives is likely bullish on Tesla’s strength in China in 2022 due to the imminent approval and operation of Tesla’s European Gigafactory facility, Giga Berlin. The plant, located in Germany, is set to begin production within the coming months. However, Tesla has not had a direct source to the European market and has instead opted to export vehicles from China to Europe. This move has contributed to Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai facility effectively splitting the plant’s output between Europe and China.
Tesla started exporting vehicles to Europe from China in August. On the heels of the news that the automaker was planning to sustain customer satisfaction in Europe through exports, Ives said the process was “a logistical nightmare that is not sustainable and thus pushing back delivery times for customers throughout the region.” Ives may have understood the general mindset around the decision to export vehicles, but felt the opening of a new factory in Europe was “a positive step on expanding Tesla’s broader manufacturing capacity globally.” Wedbush believes China could account for up to 40% of Tesla deliveries.
As for the U.S. market, the EV sector is growing quickly both from a consumer and manufacturer standpoint. Wedbush projects a $5 trillion U.S. EV market in the coming years and expects Tesla to already have secured half of the hypothetical pie. Other companies could be fighting for the remaining 50%.
“Traditional stalwarts such as GM, Ford, VW, and EV-focused vendors such as Lucid, Rivian, Fisker and others going after massive consumers dollars up for grabs the next decade,” Ives wrote in a note.
Wedbush has remained widely consistent on its Tesla thesis for some time, regularly solidifying the firm’s stance that the electric automaker will dominate the growing electric auto sector for the foreseeable future. “We have always treated Tesla as a disruptive technology vendor and not a traditional auto vendor,” Wedbush wrote. “The EV stocks are reflecting future parabolic growth and margin potential over the coming years, with now the execution/capacity story taking hold into 2022.”
Ives is ranked 8th out of 7,730 analysts on TipRanks.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
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Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
Investor's Corner
Mizuho keeps Tesla (TSLA) “Outperform” rating but lowers price target
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected.
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh lowered Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) price target to $475 from $485, citing potential 2026 EV subsidy cuts in the U.S. and China that could pressure deliveries. The firm maintained its Outperform rating for the electric vehicle maker, however.
As per the Mizuho analyst, upcoming changes to EV incentives in the U.S. and China could affect Tesla’s unit growth more than previously expected. The U.S. accounted for roughly 37% of Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 sales, while China represented about 34%, making both markets highly sensitive to policy shifts. Potential 50% cuts to Chinese subsidies and reduced U.S. incentives affected the firm’s outlook.
With those pressures factored in, the firm now expects Tesla to deliver 1.75 million vehicles in 2026 and 2 million in 2027, slightly below consensus estimates of 1.82 million and 2.15 million, respectively. The analyst was cautiously optimistic, as near-term pressure from subsidies is there, but the company’s long-term tech roadmap remains very compelling.
Despite the revised target, Mizuho remained optimistic on Tesla’s long-term technology roadmap. The firm highlighted three major growth drivers into 2027: the broader adoption of Full Self-Driving V14, the expansion of Tesla’s Robotaxi service, and the commercialization of Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot.
“We are lowering TSLA Ests/PT to $475 with Potential BEV headwinds in 2026E. We believe into 2026E, US (~37% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) EV subsidy cuts and China (34% of TSLA 3Q25 sales) potential 50% EV subsidy cuts could be a headwind to EV deliveries.
“We are now estimating TSLA deliveries for 2026/27E at 1.75M/2.00M (slightly below cons. 1.82M/2.15M). We see some LT drivers with FSD v14 adoption for autonomous, robotaxi launches, and humanoid robots into 2027 driving strength,” the analyst noted.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) has landed an elusive “must own” status from Wall Street firm Melius, according to a new note released early this week.
Analyst Rob Wertheimer said Tesla will lead the charge in world-changing tech, given the company’s focus on self-driving, autonomy, and Robotaxi. In a note to investors, Wertheimer said “the world is about to change, dramatically,” because of the advent of self-driving cars.
He looks at the industry and sees many potential players, but the firm says there will only be one true winner:
“Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is.”
The major argument is that autonomy is nearing a tipping point where years of chipping away at the software and data needed to develop a sound, safe, and effective form of autonomous driving technology turn into an avalanche of progress.
Wertheimer believes autonomy is a $7 trillion sector,” and in the coming years, investors will see “hundreds of billions in value shift to Tesla.”
A lot of the major growth has to do with the all-too-common “butts in seats” strategy, as Wertheimer believes that only a fraction of people in the United States have ridden in a self-driving car. In Tesla’s regard, only “tens of thousands” have tried Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (Supervised) version, which is v14.
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When it reaches a widespread rollout and more people are able to experience Tesla Full Self-Driving v14, he believes “it will shock most people.”
Citing things like Tesla’s massive data pool from its vehicles, as well as its shift to end-to-end neural nets in 2021 and 2022, as well as the upcoming AI5 chip, which will be put into a handful of vehicles next year, but will reach a wider rollout in 2027, Melius believes many investors are not aware of the pace of advancement in self-driving.
Tesla’s lead in its self-driving efforts is expanding, Wertheimer says. The company is making strategic choices on everything from hardware to software, manufacturing, and overall vehicle design. He says Tesla has left legacy automakers struggling to keep pace as they still rely on outdated architectures and fragmented supplier systems.
Tesla shares are up over 6 percent at 10:40 a.m. on the East Coast, trading at around $416.
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