Tesla Inc. (TSLA, Financial) shares have soared to all-time highs on investors' bullish bets about the company under the second Trump administration. The stock closed on December 16, 2024, at $463.02, representing a 6% increase from the day before.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives raised his price target on Tesla to $515 from $400 and maintains a 'Buy.' The upward revision includes anticipated support from the Trump administration for things like autonomous vehicle technology and artificial intelligence. He described this as a total game changer for Tesla's autonomous and AI initiatives in the coming years.
In that presentation, Ives presented a bullish scenario with a price target of $650, or a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion. However, he thinks Tesla's progress in full self-driving (FSD) technology and its work toward a favourable regulatory environment can turbocharge the automaker's valuation over the next 12 to 18 months.
Since the November 5 election, Tesla's stock has rocketed approximately 73%, thanks to a high degree of market faith in the company's future under this administration. The stock has moved up about 86% year to date.
Investors are waiting to learn how many of the 1 million Tesla electric vehicles it expects to produce will be made available to drivers without the need for a human behind the wheel and waiting to see if regulators will spur the deployment of self-driving vehicles by pursuing new policies. However, the company's FSD software continues to evolve, as of late, improving as it gets closer to full autonomy while still requiring driver supervision.
Investors looking to get in on this explosive, dynamic sector have zero trouble paying attention to Tesla stock performance as the electric car maker innovates at a breakneck pace in the autonomous vehicle space.
