Tesla Stock Explodes On Target Update

Tesla’s shares recorded an almost 20-percent jump on Monday after Argus Research revised its price target on the company to $808 from $556, CNBC reports.

The revision followed Tesla’s posting of another profitable quarter last month, the second in a single year, which is a first for the luxury EV maker.

Tesla, which closed at $780 on Monday, up from $674, reported expectation-beating results of $2.14 in earnings per share and $7.38 billion in revenues. It also reported record deliveries for the fourth quarter of 2019 earlier in January, saying these reached 112,095.

Tesla’s market cap is now $140 billion and could continue rising if it continues to deliver positive news about sales. The company has already said it expects to deliver half a million cars this year, “comfortably”.

“Our positive view assumes continued revenue growth from the legacy Model S and Model X, as well as strong demand for the new Model 3, which accounted for more than 80% of 4Q19 production,” Argus Research said in a note. “Despite past production delays, parts shortages, labor cost overruns and other difficulties, we expect Tesla to benefit from its dominant position in the electric vehicle industry and to improve performance in 2020 and beyond.”

The latest data on global EV sales shows that Tesla is crushing it: the Model 3 was the best-selling EV in 2019, with full-year deliveries at more than 300,000, according to a report from InsideEVs. That was 14 percent more than Model 3 sales in 2018 and it constituted a solid portion of total EV sales, which stood at 2.2 million last year.

The Model X and the Model S also recorded increases in sales last year, but a lot more modest, with Model X sales rising by 2 percent and Model S sales up by just 1 percent. Still, the strong delivery and financial performance is likely to continue fuelling Tesla’s stock price rise this year.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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