Wedbush Securities has improved its outlook for Tesla Inc., following stronger-than-expected quarterly deliveries.
On Sunday, Wedbush raised its price target for Tesla TSLA,
at $ 1,000 per share from $ 950, with a long-term price of $ 1,300 per share. Shares of Tesla closed at $ 661.75 on Thursday (markets closed Friday).
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives also changed his rating from retention to overcoming. “In our view, first-quarter delivery numbers released on Friday changed paradigm,” he said in a note.
On Friday, Tesla reported first-quarter deliveries, its sales proxy, totaling 184,800 vehicles, surpassing the FactSet consensus of 168,000. The Silicon Valley electric vehicle maker said it produced just over 180,000 vehicles in the period, in what Ives called a number “dropping the microphone.”
“We now believe Tesla could surpass 850,000 deliveries for the year with 900,000 extensive targets, despite the shortage of chips and various supply chain problems that persist in the automotive sector,” Ives said Sunday . He added that “delivery numbers coming out of China cannot be ignored with the trajectory of the pace accounting for approximately 40% of Musk & Co. deliveries in 2022.”
Ives and his team also see Tesla’s profitability improving significantly over the next three to four years.
Tesla shares have fallen 6.2% to date, but have risen 628% in the past 12 months.