Elon Musk Takes Control, Tesla Dominates as Bears are Sent into ‘Hibernation’ in Epic Fashion
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) pleased investors with their impressive fourth–quarter results on Wednesday, leading Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives to upgrade his rating on the company’s shares from Outperform to $200 from $175.
Ives found the demand growth outlook for Tesla to be twice that of its production coming out of 2023, putting delivery expectations on target for a 38% jump this year.
Despite a slight 200 basis point miss in their automotive gross margin, Ives believes that the 2023 outlook is still highly conservative given the strong rebound in demand for its Model Y and 3 vehicles in China following price cuts.
He also believes that Tesla’s decision to temporarily sacrifice margins for higher volumes is a wise move to retain customers and ward off competition in the near term.
Musk’s acknowledgment of the complex spider web relationship between Twitter and Tesla will likely elicit a mixed response from investors, Ives said. The Twitter noise, nevertheless, is starting to dissipate, he added.