Tesla’s stock surged 3% on Thursday after Bank of America Securities (BofA) analysts expressed confidence in the company’s growth prospects for 2025 and beyond. The positive assessment comes from lead analyst John Murphy, who visited Tesla’s Giga Austin factory and is now raising his price target to $400.
Murphy cites an upcoming low-cost electric vehicle, expected to hit the market in the first half of 2025, as a key driver for Tesla’s growth. He believes this new model will increase the company’s total addressable market, cost less than $30,000, and benefit from cost savings through “de-contenting” and more efficient manufacturing.
BofA analysts are also bullish on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, currently in beta. Murphy notes that the seamless testing of FSD during a recent factory visit suggests a supervised launch of Tesla’s robotaxi business is imminent. This, combined with expected growth in software-based products like FSD, could improve Tesla’s margins.
Tesla plans to expand its robotaxi testing next year and has ambitious targets for its humanoid robot, Optimus. While Musk has predicted massive growth for Optimus, Murphy believes costs will decrease as the robot’s abilities improve. With 1,000 Optimus robots set to start working at Giga Austin by the end of 2025, Murphy expects “compute power” to shift towards Optimus development.
Murphy maintains his Buy rating for Tesla and is optimistic about the company’s growth prospects in the coming years.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-stock-pops-as-giga-austin-visit-has-bofa-bullish-172718038.html