What happened
Busting out of a two-day losing streak, shares of Tesla (TSLA -1.57%) were up 3.1% as of 10:55 a.m. ET Monday in response to a bullish note from investment bank Piper Sandler.
So what
As StreetInsider.com relates this morning, Piper Sandler decided to give Tesla some love this Valentine's Day, reiterating its buy rating on the stock and raising its price target to $1,350 -- implying that new buyers can expect to see as much as a 55% gain on the electric car company's shares this year.
Updating its valuation to account for new "forecast ... deliveries, capex, and margins," Piper says it expects Tesla to generate more cash going forward, such that the stock is now worth more on a discounted cash flow-based model.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Now, not all today's Tesla news is good. As StreetInsider.com also pointed out, Tesla appears to be losing market share in China, where it sold only 59,845 EVs in January, down 15% from the 70,847 electric cars and SUVs it sold in December.
Citing China Passenger Car Association data, SI notes that total EV sales by all car companies in China declined year over year in December, but they actually inched a fraction of a percentage point higher sequentially between December 2021 and January 2022. The fact that Tesla's sales slipped 15% sequentially in the period suggests that the company may be losing market share in the Middle Kingdom.
In other Tesla news, TheFly.com is reporting a note today from investment bank Bernstein, which warns that Tesla's failure to introduce a mass market Model 2 electric car in 2022 makes the company increasingly dependent upon Full Self Driving software offered in its other cars. As Bernstein opines, true "Level 5" FSD capability is likely still years away for Tesla, and Tesla probably "will NOT be the first company to commercialize a ride-hailing network" utilizing FSD.
Bernstein therefore disagrees with Piper Sandler on Tesla stock, giving it a $300 price target and an underperform (i.e., sell) rating.
