Argus Research raised Tesla TSLA target price to $808 from $556

Tesla shares (TSLA) rose about 10%, reaching a 52-week high of $736.72. Its stock has more than tripled since October.

Last week, Tesla published positive Q4 2019 results, which gave investors more confidence that the company had overcome past problems. The California automaker has promised to increase sales of its cars by more than a third this year.

Argus Research analyst Bill Selesky raised Tesla's target price to $808 from $556 on Monday, citing high demand for the new Model 3 and continued revenue growth from Model S and Model X.

“Our positive view assumes continued revenue growth from the legacy Model S and Model X, as well as strong demand for the new Model 3, which accounted for more than 80% of 4Q19 production.”

The analyst also cited Tesla's strong Q4 financials, which exceeded Wall Street expectations last week. Altogether, Selesky raised its earnings per share estimate to $8.01 from $5.96 and expects to double by 2021.

"Despite past production delays, parts shortages, labor cost overruns, and other difficulties, we expect Tesla to benefit from its dominant position in the electric vehicle industry and to improve performance in 2020 and beyond."

In early January, Selesky had already raised its 12-month Tesla target price to $556 from $396. He cited Tesla's strong deliveries in the Q4, which exceeded analysts' expectations, as one of the reasons for the change. Selesky wrote:

“We are raising our 2020 EPS estimate to $ 5.96 from $ 4.40 to reflect improved economies of scale in 2020 production and delivery results and a better-than-expected ramp up of vehicles produced at the Shanghai factory in China.”

Thanks to its forecast, Argus Research then became one of the greatest optimists among many experts who evaluated the shares of the manufacturer of electric vehicles.

Two weeks ago, Catherine Wood, ARK Invest CEO, said that developing and deploying a Tesla autonomous taxi fleet could cost software around 80%, which in her opinion could support stock prices around $6,000.

Now Ark invest has also revised its future expectations upward and is now certifying a pioneer in electronic cars for a possible market value of up to $7,000 in the future. Ark is considered one of the most optimistic stock watchers.

Source: Top 25 Automakers by Market Cap

Well, analyst predictions make a lot of sense, because at the moment Tesla is worth almost as much as BMW and Volkswagen together.

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Featured image: Reuters