Connect with us

Investor's Corner

Tesla’s Bitcoin buy filled with advantages: ARK Invest’s Keeney

Credit: CNBC

Published

on

Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) $1.5 billion purchase of Bitcoin, a move announced yesterday in a 10-K document filed with the SEC, was the most popular news surrounding the electric automaker on Monday. While some TSLA investors saw it as their time to get out of being shareholders, others look at it as an advantage in several ways. One person looking at the move from a bullish perspective is ARK Invest’s Tasha Keeney, who believes Tesla’s Bitcoin purchase has heavy advantages as the company moves toward a broader consumer base, especially in international markets.

Tesla’s BTC Purchase

In a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla announced it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that has massive value, trading at over $46,600 at the time of writing. Tesla added that it “may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term,” and that it anticipates the purchase of its cars and other products by using the cryptocurrency in the near future.

The move follows CEO Elon Musk’s vocal support of both Bitcoin and Dogecoin, two cryptocurrencies that have maintained huge upside potential over the past several months. Among the ever-growing list of digital currencies, Bitcoin and Dogecoin are among the most popular in 2021, mainly because of ongoing celebrity support.

In the past several years, Bitcoin has become widely popular, especially after a meteoric rise in value in 2017 and 2018 that made it a household name. Early investors used Bitcoin to purchase goods from the internet in an untraceable manner. Now, more retail companies are working on accepting the crypto as a form of payment for everything from a pizza to a Rolex watch.

“It is a very serious move from [Tesla] – Keeney

Tasha Keeney, an analyst for Ark Invest, stated that Tesla’s move to purchase Bitcoin is one that aligns with the company’s recent Big Ideas Report. One of the most significant advantages to purchasing Bitcoin for Tesla is the versatility of the cryptocurrency, especially when doing business internationally. “Using Bitcoin as corporate cash, especially if you’re doing business in many different countries with many different foreign currencies…instead of dealing with the complication and the treasury risk, you can instead do this with Bitcoin,” Keeney said. “We think it makes sense from a corporate cash standpoint, and actually, we’ve done some analysts to say that if 1% of all the cash from the companies in the S&P 500 were to be converted into Bitcoin for corporate treasury purposes, this could actually increase the price by a meaningful amount, by about $40,000.”

Advertisement
-->

Additionally, when operational in other countries, Tesla’s planned ride-hailing Robotaxi service could avoid hurdles and complications in payment by using a universal currency instead of multiple different foreign currencies. Keeney says the payment function could be void of conversion issues if customers used a single form of payment instead of dealing with various currencies in each region.

Tesla bull ARK Invest estimates autonomous ride-hailing to generate over $1T in revenue by 2030

A Publicity Move? ARK doesn’t think so

Bitcoin is no longer a risky or unusual form of payment. Many large companies accept the crypto as a form of currency, and Tesla just plans to be the latest one to accept it. “[Their move] is validated by other firms doing the same thing,” Keeney added during an interview with CNBC.

With Tesla focused on a widespread and quickly accelerating rollout of its products in foreign countries, Bitcoin’s international usage seems to be an advantage that the automaker can use. From a treasury perspective, it doesn’t make sense to deal with so many different foreign currencies, and Bitcoin’s universal acceptance across the world gives Tesla versatility as it expands. With plans to enter the highly elusive Indian market shortly, and expansions in Singapore, Israel, among several other countries, Tesla is technically making a move that supports its goal: accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Tesla’s somewhat early adoption of Bitcoin as a payment method and as an internal investment also holds other benefits, Keeney says. With Tesla joining the Bitcoin movement, it, along with other companies, could experience a tailwind in growth from its influence. Other companies are bound to either invest or accept Bitcoin as a currency later on. The entities that got in before it was widely-accepted could benefit from a surge in valuation after it continues to be looked at as a payment method.

Advertisement
-->

“Being one of the first companies to invest in Bitcoin, to transact in Bitcoin, actually gives them sort of an advantage to really lay that infrastructure as it becomes increasingly important. And again, as other firms might do it, because we feel there will be the need for the infrastructure to be set up. So, [Tesla] will be one of the first players to figure this out,” Keeney stated.

Check out Keeney’s interview with CNBC below.

Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA shareholder. He does not hold any BTC and has no intentions to open any positions within 72 hours.

Advertisement
-->

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Tesla price target boost from its biggest bear is 95% below its current level

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) just got a price target boost from its biggest bear, Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research, who raised his expected trading level to one that is 95 percent lower than its current trading level.

Johnson pushed his Tesla price target from $19.05 to $25.28 on Wednesday, while maintaining the ‘Sell’ rating that has been present on the stock for a long time. GLJ has largely been recognized as the biggest skeptic of Elon Musk’s company, being particularly critical of the automotive side of things.

Tesla has routinely been called out by Johnson for negative delivery growth, what he calls “weakening demand,” and price cuts that have occurred in past years, all pointing to them as desperate measures to sell its cars.

Johnson has also said that Tesla is extremely overvalued and is too reliant on regulatory credits for profitability. Other analysts on the bullish side recognize Tesla as a company that is bigger than just its automotive side.

Many believe it is a leader in autonomous driving, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, who believes Tesla will have a widely successful 2026, especially if it can come through on its targets and schedules for Robotaxi and Cybercab.

Advertisement
-->

Justifying the price target this week, Johnson said that the revised valuation is based on “reality rather than narrative.” Tesla has been noted by other analysts and financial experts as a stock that trades on narrative, something Johnson obviously disagrees with.

Dan Nathan, a notorious skeptic of the stock, turned bullish late last year, recognizing the company’s shares trade on “technicals and sentiment.” He said, “From a trading perspective, it looks very interesting.”

Tesla bear turns bullish for two reasons as stock continues boost

Johnson has remained very consistent with this sentiment regarding Tesla and his beliefs regarding its true valuation, and has never shied away from putting his true thoughts out there.

Tesla shares closed at $431.40 today, about 95 percent above where Johnson’s new price target lies.

Advertisement
-->
Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla gets price target bump, citing growing lead in self-driving

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock received a price target update from Pierre Ferragu of Wall Street firm New Street Research, citing the company’s growing lead in self-driving and autonomy.

On Tuesday, Ferragu bumped his price target from $520 to $600, stating that the consensus from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was that Tesla’s lead in autonomy has been sustained, is growing, and sits at a multiple-year lead over its competitors.

CES 2026 validates Tesla’s FSD strategy, but there’s a big lag for rivals: analyst

“The signal from Vegas is loud and clear,” the analyst writes. “The industry isn’t catching up to Tesla; it is actively validating Tesla’s strategy…just with a 12-year lag.”

The note shows that the company’s prowess in vehicle autonomy is being solidified by lagging competitors that claim to have the best method. The only problem is that Tesla’s Vision-based approach, which it adopted back in 2022 with the Model 3 and Model Y initially, has been proven to be more effective than competitors’ approach, which utilizes other technology, such as LiDAR and sensors.

Advertisement
-->

Currently, Tesla shares are sitting at around $433, as the company’s stock price closed at $432.96 on Tuesday afternoon.

Ferragu’s consensus on Tesla shares echoes that of other Wall Street analysts who are bullish on the company’s stock and position within the AI, autonomy, and robotics sector.

Dan Ives of Wedbush wrote in a note in mid-December that he anticipates Tesla having a massive 2026, and could reach a $3 trillion valuation this year, especially with the “AI chapter” taking hold of the narrative at the company.

Ives also said that the big step in the right direction for Tesla will be initiating production of the Cybercab, as well as expanding on the Robotaxi program through the next 12 months:

“…as full-scale volume production begins with the autonomous and robotics roadmap…The company has started to test the all-important Cybercab in Austin over the past few weeks, which is an incremental step towards launching in 2026 with important volume production of Cybercabs starting in April/May, which remains the golden goose in unlocking TSLA’s AI valuation.”

Advertisement
-->

Tesla analyst breaks down delivery report: ‘A step in the right direction’

Tesla has transitioned from an automaker to a full-fledged AI company, and its Robotaxi and Cybercab programs, fueled by the Full Self-Driving suite, are leading the charge moving forward. In 2026, there are major goals the company has outlined. The first is removing Safety Drivers from vehicles in Austin, Texas, one of the areas where it operates a ride-hailing service within the U.S.

Ultimately, Tesla will aim to launch a Level 5 autonomy suite to the public in the coming years.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla Q4 delivery numbers are better than they initially look: analyst

The Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner shared his thoughts in a post on his website.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Longtime Tesla analyst and Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster has shared his insights on Tesla’s Q4 2025 deliveries. As per the analyst, Tesla’s numbers are actually better than they first appear. 

Munster shared his thoughts in a post on his website. 

Normalized December Deliveries

Munster noted that Tesla delivered 418k vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2025, slightly below Street expectations of 420k but above the whisper number of 415k. Tesla’s reported 16% year-over-year decline, compared to +7% in September, is largely distorted by the timing of the tax credit expiration, which pulled forward demand.

“Taking a step back, we believe September deliveries pulled forward approximately 55k units that would have otherwise occurred in December or March. For simplicity, we assume the entire pull-forward impacted the December quarter. Under this assumption, September growth would have been down ~5% absent the 55k pull-forward, a Deepwater estimate tied to the credit’s expiration.

For December deliveries to have declined ~5% year over year would imply total deliveries of roughly 470k. Subtracting the 55k units pulled into September results in an implied December delivery figure of approximately 415k. The reported 418k suggests that, when normalizing for the tax credit timing, quarter-over-quarter growth has been consistently down ~5%. Importantly, this ~5% decline represents an improvement from the ~13% declines seen in both the March and June 2025 quarters.

Advertisement
-->

Tesla’s United States market share

Munster also estimated that Q4 as a whole might very well show a notable improvement in Tesla’s market share in the United States. 

“Over the past couple of years, based on data from Cox Automotive, Tesla has been losing U.S. EV market share, declining to just under 50%. Based on data for October and November, Cox estimates that total U.S. EV sales were down approximately 35%, compared to Tesla’s just reported down 16% for the full quarter.  For the first two months of the quarter, Cox reported Tesla market share of roughly a 65% share, up from under 50% in the September quarter.

“While this data excludes December, the quarter as a whole is likely to show a material improvement in Tesla’s U.S. EV market share.

Continue Reading