More Tesla naysayers are coming around, as the electric automaker continues to make unprecedented gains.
Evercore ISI analyst Chris McNally told investors on Friday, “whether we call it valuation confusion or valuation rotation, we have been on the considerably wrong side of Tesla for over a year now.”
McNally removed its sell rating on Tesla for the first time in 12 months, and upgraded the stock to essentially a hold, reports Bloomberg. The price target for Tesla was also increased to $650, up from $225. Tesla closed trading on Friday at $880, after touching an all-time high of $884.49.
According to the research note, McNally says investors see Tesla as more than just an electric vehicle company, but also as an energy company and self-driving tech business, for example.
Tesla’s self-driving unit is valued at $100 billion and roughly $80 billion as a battery and powertrain supplier. As a potential energy-storage business, Tesla’s value could be in the $25 billion to $75 billion range, which could possibly one day become larger than its car business, said McNally.
Earlier this week, RBC Capital analyst, Joseph Spak, also admitted he missed the boat on Tesla, mentioning he “completely wrong”.
After another week of rallies, Tesla’s market cap now stands at $834 billion, larger than Facebook and only behind Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet in the S&P 500.
