Stock in the electric-vehicle maker was up over 3%, hitting an all-time high.
November inflation data was helping the market. Prices increased at 2.7% from a year ago—in line with economists’ expectations and likely keeping the Federal Reserve on track to cut benchmark interest rates next week.
Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was up about 61% year to date and up about 59% since the Nov. 5 election. Gains have left it hitting all-time highs. Tesla’s split-adjusted all-time closing high is $409.97, and the all-time intraday high is $414.50. Both levels were reached on Nov. 4, 2021.
Expectations that CEO Elon Musk’s relationship with President-elect Donald Trump will benefit Tesla have helped push shares higher, which in turn has led analysts to raise their price targets, helping fuel additional stock gains in what’s become a virtuous cycle.
The cycle was at work again on Wednesday. Goldman analyst Mark Delaney raised his price target to $345 a share from $250.
He actually trimmed his earnings estimates, noting slower EV growth, but added investors are interested more in Tesla’s AI opportunity. Tesla uses AI computing to train its cars to drive themselves. The company plans to start its robo-taxi service in late 2025.
Delaney rates Tesla stock Hold. His $345 target price is below where the stock trades. Wall Street has had trouble keeping up with investors. The average analyst target price is up about $40 since the election. The stock has added closer to $150 since Nov. 5.
The growing gap leaves Tesla stock trading almost 50% higher than the current $271 average analyst price target aggregated by FactSet.
Trading above price targets can feel alarming, but it isn’t all that unusual for Tesla stock. Over the past five years, the shares have been above the average target price more than half of the time. Apple stock has been above the average analyst target price about 15% of the time over the same span.
The spread between Tesla analysts and investors has also been wider in the past—particularly in 2020. Tesla stock gained more than 740% that year. Wall Street had trouble keeping up with that run too.
Tesla closed just below $401 on Tuesday, only the fifth time shares have closed above $400 on a split-adjusted basis. There is only one analyst target from a large U.S. broker greater than that—Stifel Nicolaus analyst Stephen Gengaro says it could go to $411. He rates the stock a Buy.
It’s likely that more price targets will breach the $400 barrier if Tesla’s stock keeps rising.