Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk is a “rejuvenated” leader who can now spend more of his time and energy on the EV maker, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note Thursday.
Tesla shares
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were slightly outperforming the broader equity market on Thursday, looking at a weekly gain of about 4%.
The stock got a boost earlier this week from Tesla’s shareholder meeting, with Musk taking the stage to showcase his plans for the EV maker and offer updates on products.
See also: Elon Musk says he’s not stepping down and four other takeaways from Tesla shareholder meeting
“This week Elon Musk laid out a very detailed strategy and road map for Tesla
at the shareholder meeting which gives investors some more clarity around the
blueprint for the Tesla growth story going forward,” Ives said in his note.
Ives is a known Tesla bull, with a price target of $215 on the stock and a buy rating. The mean price target on Tesla, according to a FactSet survey of 47 analysts, is $191, which would represent an upside of about 9% over Thursday prices.
Musk has announced that former NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino will take the reins at Twitter Inc., the company he bought in October for $44 billion.
“Twitter in our opinion was a distraction for Musk,” Ives said. The analyst repeated this prediction that Musk will be CEO of Tesla “at least for the next 5 years,” overseeing Tesla’s suite of advanced driver assistance systems, production expansion, and the next Tesla model, “all key endeavors” for Tesla, he said.
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Ives highlighted another “major positive” to come out of this week’s Tesla shareholder meeting: advertising.
The public needs to understand better the many parts of Tesla’s portfolio especially “as competition in the EV landscape heats up in this EV arms race,” he said.
On Tuesday, shareholders approved all the proposals endorsed by Tesla, including the nomination of former chief technology officer JB Straubel to the board, which had faced some opposition.
Shares of Tesla have lost 26% in the past 12 months, contrasting with gains of about 6% for the S&P 500 index.
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The stock has overperformed, however, in the year to date, up 42% compared with an advance of nearly 9% for the index.
