Tesla seems unstoppable.
The electric auto maker’s stock hit a record high for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday, adding to a practically relentless 223% rally since the market bottomed in March. Tesla’s $258 billion market cap now makes it larger than 97% of the S&P 500’s components.
Analysts at Barclays and Morgan Stanley who remain underweight the stock said Tuesday they see few near-term obstacles ahead for Tesla.
Morgan Stanley raised its base case price target to $740 from $650 and set its 2030 bull case target at $2,070 a share. Barclays analysts wrote that they “see nothing to prevent the shares moving higher in the coming weeks” and “no downside catalyst” until the fourth quarter of 2020.
Tesla shares closed up over 1% at $1,389.86 on Tuesday.
“This is a stock you cannot fundamentally value,” Quint Tatro, chief investment officer at Joule Financial, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Tuesday. “It doesn’t make money yet. It’s very difficult to do so.”
Tesla has yet to show profits on an annual basis. Last week, it overtook Toyota as the world’s most valuable automaker by market value, though it still trails the Japanese company considerably on production metrics.
Bullish sentiment around Tesla has nevertheless been growing, with JMP Securities saying Monday it expects Tesla to achieve $100 billion in annual revenue within five years.
“Historically, if you want to be a buyer of this stock, we’ve seen massive pullbacks over the years when, all of a sudden, the shorts start to win a little bit and everybody thinks that they’re going to go out of business,” said Tatro, who admitted he wished he was invested in the soaring name.
“That’s been the traditional buy point,” he said. “So, I think if you want to be a buyer of Tesla, I think you have to patiently wait for that pullback and be very careful here.”
Todd Gordon, managing director at Ascent Wealth Partners, said that it feels like Tesla’s stock is still early in its journey since the IPO.
“[The] valuation is high when you’re using traditional metrics, but obviously, growth stocks command a higher PE and we believe Tesla’s a leader in the large-cap universe,” Gordon said in the same “Trading Nation” interview.
Tesla shares have climbed nearly 8,076% since their June 29, 2010, public debut. Now, they’re in the “third inning of the game,” Gordon said, citing the below chart.
To Gordon, the first inning was Tesla’s 4½-year, 1,885% rally and the second inning was its roughly five-year trading range, which he labeled a long-term “consolidation.”
“We are looking at earnings next quarter, July 22,” Gordon said, noting that Tesla delivered roughly 88,000 vehicles last quarter, turned a profit and became the highest-valued car company in the world.
“If they beat, that’ll be four consecutive quarters of profitability, which is exceeding analyst expectations,” he said. “And watch the increase and pickup in China. It’s widely accepted in China. So, we continue to hold Tesla.”
Disclosure: Ascent Wealth Partners owns shares of Tesla.
