Tesla stock rose to its highest level in two months Monday, as investor hype builds heading into a trio of crucial October events for the electric vehicle behemoth, though not all on Wall Street are convinced the Elon Musk-led firm’s upcoming robotaxi day will live up to the hype.
Tesla shares may will face a trio of tests next month.
Shares of Tesla rose 5% to $250 in Monday trading, zipping to its highest close since July 22, and the stock now trades more than 35% higher than its early August nadir of $182 and almost 80% above its April bottom of $139.
Driving Monday’s rally was a note from Barclays analyst Dan Levy, who wrote to clients he expects Tesla to report third-quarter vehicle deliveries of 470,000 next month, above FactSet estimates of about 460,000, calling for Tesla’s first year-over-year delivery growth of 2024 after the first quarter’s 9% and the second quarter’s 5% annual declines.
Levy noted a strong delivery number Oct. 2 “could drive further strength of the stock into robotaxi day,” the Oct. 10 event which many analysts expect to potentially swing Tesla stock, considering Musk has called the company’s push into autonomous driving the primary reason to hold the stock.
In recent notes to clients, Bank of America analyst John Murphy called the robotaxi day a “potential catalyst” for Tesla shares, UBS analyst Joseph Spak noted the event will provide “an opportunity for Tesla to not only convince that investor base that the current valuation is justified, but that there is significant upside opportunity from here.”
In addition to vehicle deliveries due Oct. 2 and the robotaxi event Oct. 10, Tesla will also report earnings Oct. 16, with the stock historically volatile surrounding delivery and earnings reports.
“We are, frankly, struggling to see how the day can live up to investors' high expectations,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients last week. Jonas, who is among the most bullish on Wall Street with a $310 price target for Tesla, wrote he notably doesn’t expect the October event to touch on the company’s humanoid “Optimus” robots.
Originally scheduled for August, Tesla’s robotaxi day is expected to show off its latest Full Self-Driving technology and the “cybercab,” a driverless taxi equipped with Tesla’s controversial autonomous driving program. The event will take place at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Tesla’s pivot into driverless vehicles and artificial intelligence comes as the company grapples with slumping profit margins on its bread-and-butter electric vehicles. Though its stock is hot lately, Tesla shares have yet to recapture their pandemic peak, with shares down about 40% from their 2021 all-time high.
$84 billion. That’s how much richer the $263 billion man Musk, who owns 13% of Tesla’s outstanding equity, is Monday than he was five months ago prior, with a net worth of $179 billion. The world’s wealthiest man according to Forbes’ estimates, Musk is more than $50 billion richer than the next richest person, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, at $211 billion.