Tesla stock just missed a new all-time high on Monday, boosted by robo-taxi optimism. Shares have a shot at new all-time highs set almost a year ago to the day.
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker were down 0.9% in premarket trading Tuesday at $471, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Shares closed at $475.31 on Monday, up 3.6% on the day. That's only the second close above $470 and less than $5 from a new all-time closing high. Tesla stock closed at $479.86 on Dec. 17, 2024.
The stock's all-time intraday high is $488.54, reached on Dec. 18, 2024.
The 2024 highs were fueled by President Donald Trump's election in November. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a strong supporter of the president, and investors came to believe his proximity to the White House would benefit Tesla.
Things didn't unfold as expected. Musk's political activities arguably hurt Tesla's brand image, and Trump followed through on promises to end the federal EV purchase tax credit. The loss of the federal subsidy at the end of September weighed on EV sales in October and November.
Despite the rocky relationship, Tesla launched its AI-trained robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, which investors believe will unlock a new era of earnings growth for the company.
Robo-taxis have fueled the recent rally. Monday's jump came after Musk tweeted, on Sunday, that Tesla was testing robo-taxis without safety monitors in the car. That's another step on the path to expanding Tesla's service across the U.S.
Tesla's robo-taxi service launched with safety monitors sitting in the front passenger seat. In October, Musk said he hoped to remove the monitors by year's end.
"Excitement continues to build for Tesla's autonomous vehicle and Robotaxi narrative after at least partly achieving removal of safety monitors by year-end," wrote Barclays analyst Dan Levy on Monday. "Yet key questions remain on roll-out timing/scale."
How fast Tesla can expand the service amid patchwork state-by-state regulations is a concern for him.
Levy rates shares Hold and has a $350 price target for the stock. Overall, 40% of analysts covering Tesla stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target for Tesla stock is about $400 a share.
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