Tesla Just Got a Price Bump Worth Two Toyotas. What a Dozen Analysts Says About the Stock in 2021.
Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch increased his target price for Tesla stock to $1,036 a share from $486.
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Analysts are using the turning of the calendar to review their price targets and valuations for Tesla.
Target prices, for the most part, are only going up for the electric-vehicle pioneer. Analysts have had to rush to keep up with Tesla stock. Shares are up about 20% year to date. The S&P 500, for comparison, is up about 1.1%.
Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch increased his target price for Tesla (ticker: TSLA) stock to $1,036 a share from $486, the stock’s first $1,000-plus price target after its recent five for one stock split. Rusch has had a Buy rating on Tesla shares since the summer of 2018.
That’s a 113% boost and the new high on the street. It values Tesla at roughly $1 trillion and about $550 billion more—or about two Toyotas—than what he valued the company at in October. Toyota Motor (TM) is the second most valuable car company in the world with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion.
Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner also rates Tesla stock Buy. He increased his price target to $890 a share from $705. His $705 target price was set in late December.
Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois raised his Tesla price target Tuesday to $775 a share from $650. He rated Tesla stock Buy until November when he downgraded shares to Hold.
Bigger recent changes of heart came from RBC analyst Joseph Spak, ISI Evercore analyst Chris McNally, and Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy.
Spak wrote in early January he got Tesla stock “completely wrong” and upgraded shares to Hold from Sell. Spak took his target price up more than 100%, like Rusch, but in this instance the target went to $700 a share from $339.
McNally also upgraded shares to Hold from Sell. He increased his price target by almost 200%, taking it to $650 from $225.
Levy didn’t upgrade Tesla stock. He still rates shares Hold, but his price target also went up triple digits. Levy took his price target up 100% to $800 from $400 in early January. His $400 price target was set back in September.
Those three rate Tesla stock Hold. So does Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who raised his price target to $950 a share from $715 back on Jan. 14.
Tesla bears have been raising price targets, too. J.P. Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman and BNP Paribas analyst Stuart Pearson both rate Tesla stock Sell. Brinkman took his target price for Tesla shares to $105 a share from $90 at the start of 2021. Pearson cut his price target to $340 from $385.
There are analysts who have not changed their target price on Tesla shares this year. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, for instance, rates Tesla stock Sell. He hasn’t changed his price target since mid-2020 and values shares at $180. Cowen analyst Jeffery Osborne rates Tesla stock Hold. He hasn’t moved off his valuation of $380 a share either. Baird analyst Ben Kallo rates shares Buy. He still has a $488 target price that was set back in October.
Overall, the average analyst price target for Tesla stock is about $511. That’s up roughly 20% year to date and 600% over the past year.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
