Shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA rose 1.3% in premarket trading Wednesday, after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said overnight that the electric vehicle maker would “try” advertising and teased two new products. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson reiterated his strong buy rating on the stock, saying he considers Musk’s comments at Tesla’s annual meeting a positive. Nelson also reiterated his $250 stock price target, which implies about 50% upside from Tuesday’s closing price of $166.52. Nelson was upbeat on Musk reiterating delivery targets for the Cybertruck, saying he would reconsider his stance on traditional advertising, produce a new kind of drivetrain that uses less silicon carbide and rare-earth elements and switch to a lower-voltage architecture for the vehicles. “Musk also made bullish comments regarding recent improvements in its self-driving technology, saying he believes [Tesla] will achieve full autonomy this year,” Nelson wrote in a note to clients. “While history has shown that Musk’s predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, we do think [Tesla] is leading the autonomous driving race and view the stock’s pullback since the end of Q1 as a buying opportunity.” Tesla’s stock has tumbled 19.7% since the end of March through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has been little changed.
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