According to Mizuho, Tesla has more room to run in the new presidential administration. Analyst Vijay Rakesh upgraded the electric vehicle maker, raising his price target to $515 from $285 after being on the sidelines. This means an increase of 11.2% compared to Monday’s close. “We see idiosyncratic tailwinds positioning well over the next ~4Y,” Rakesh said in a note to clients. Tesla shares have been torn apart since Donald Trump won the election, largely because of CEO Elon Musk’s close advisory relationship with the incoming president. During that time, the stock is up 84%. The stock added more than 2.5% in premarket trade after the upgrade. TSLA YTD mountain Tesla stock this year. Rakesh believes Tesla may still face near-term challenges from the repeal of the electric home tax credit, but said the company is generally better positioned than its peers due to pro-regulation and Musk’s alignment with the Trump administration. Rakesh expects the easing of the regulatory framework around autonomous driving to be a positive catalyst for Tesla’s full self-driving and robotaxi valuations. Tesla’s autonomous segments account for more than half of Mizuho’s stock valuation. “We believe that TSLA’s autonomy software stack is improving for broad commercialization,” said Rakesh. The company expects to have its Level 4 full self-driving technology approved by next year and licensing revenue in the European Union in 2027. Tesla’s current autonomous systems are still rated at Level 2, or partial driving automation. Trump’s policies also position Tesla better compared to its EV cost structure peers, leaving the company well-positioned for global LVP electric vehicles (or cars that use lithium-vanadium phosphate batteries) with its profitable EV plans, Rakesh said. . Import tariffs from the EU, Latin America, Canada and the East Asia-Pacific region could also improve Tesla’s competitiveness, he said. Last week, Trump’s transition team recommended repealing the requirement that companies report automated vehicle crash data to federal safety regulators. Eliminating the accident reporting provision would benefit Tesla, which has reported most crashes under the program. Analysts are mixed on the stock. Of the 54 covering the EV maker, 25 rate it as a buy or strong buy, according to LSEG. The remaining 29, however, have a hold, underperform or sell rating.
