News
Three reasons Tesla will continue to go higher in ’22, according to one of its biggest bulls
Tesla will close out 2021 with record figures for its production and deliveries, continuing a streak that has dated back to 2012. However, 2021 is likely to be eclipsed by 2022, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who gave three reasons why Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) will continue to move upward, making the new year its biggest to date.
Ives, who has been one of Tesla’s most notable bulls on the Street throughout the past couple of years, believes Tesla’s performance in 2021 showed a robust determination to navigate parts and chip shortages, vowing not to let the bottlenecks, which may cause some large automakers to report negative figures compared to last year, affect its production figures in the same fashion. Tesla routinely updated investors and enthusiasts on its ability to deter itself from chip shortages regularly, including a groundbreaking announcement during the Q2 2021 Earnings Call, where the automaker had designed, developed, and validated a series of 19 variants of controllers. This effort from Tesla engineers helped the automaker avoid and mitigate large-scale disruptions in its production and delivery process.
Tesla did this better than any other automaker, Ives said in a Tweet from Monday. The story of 2021 was likely based on this effort alone, which was monumental and could have caused serious problems for some companies, especially those without substantial cash on hand.
Looking forward to 2022, Ives sees Tesla’s impressive performance continuing, listing three main factors in the automaker’s quest to continue its meteoric rise up the ranks of global automotive companies. While Tesla leads every car company on Earth in valuation, the next goal in the company’s sights must be to increase its production and delivery numbers on an annual basis, inching closer to the one million vehicle annual run rate.
Giga Berlin and Giga Texas
Ives lists Tesla’s two new manufacturing facilities as the first point in the company’s quest for a monumental 2022. Gigafactory Berlin and Gigafactory Texas were set to open in 2021. However, delays due to the pandemic and other political issues in Germany have derailed the start of either of these facilities during this year, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Tesla will come out in 2022, firing on all cylinders. Two new production facilities will launch with massive implications for the company’s growth forecast, as they will both contribute to Tesla’s consistently growing run rate. With these two factories sufficiently ramped in 2022 by Q2 or Q3, if all goes according to plan, Tesla could come close to doubling its current output in 2021 for 2022.
China “Mega-Growth”
China has proven to be one of Tesla’s most successful markets, and Ives believes the increasing run rates out of Gigafactory Shanghai will continue to surge more growth into the company. There is no doubt that Tesla has continued to be a substantial force in China, despite robust competition and a somewhat coordinated media attack on the company’s products. However, it has not stopped Tesla from performing exceptionally well in the sector. Tesla has delivered over 50,000 vehicles per month in China for the past two months. Some monthly figures, which are confirmed by the Chinese Passenger Car Association, are lower than others due to Tesla’s strategy to export vehicles from China to Europe, where Giga Berlin is waiting for approval to begin operation.
Tesla Giga Shanghai shows off its Model 3 production efficiency in recent video
Unit growth fueled by new facilities and increased demand
Ives is forecasting a unit growth of 55 or 60 percent for Tesla in 2022, which can mostly be attributed to the new factories in Texas and Berlin. This could perhaps be Tesla’s key, along with more efficient battery cells, to an even higher stock price and valuation. However, even more, Tesla’s increased production rates could put the company on par with some of the more large-scale car companies, especially if it can cross the one million vehicle production rate annually, which should be easy considering the projected output after ramping production lines at Berlin and Texas.
Ives reiterated his $1,400 price target and the “Outperform” rating he held on Tesla stock. Ives is ranked 22nd out of 7,756 analysts on TipRanks. He also holds a 76% success rate and an average return of 36.4%.
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Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
