Ives raises Tesla price target to $500 and declares the “golden age of autonomous growth”

After a temporary detour, Tesla’s biggest bull is back to being bullish.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives today raised the firm’s price target for Tesla to $500 from $350, saying that the launch of Tesla’s robotaxi service next month will usher in the “golden age of autonomous” driving and a “key next chapter of growth for Musk & Co.”

“The $1 trillion of AI valuation will start to get unlocked in the Tesla story and we believe the march to a $2 trillion valuation for TSLA over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose.”

Ives is taking CEO Elon Musk, known for immense exaggerations, outright lies, and repeatedly missed timelines, at his word.

What we know for sure is that Musk’s car business is struggling, no matter what he says to the contrary. And despite his emphasis on future business lines like autonomous driving and robotics, there’s reason to believe those won’t go as promised. As of last month, the company hadn’t tested a single driverless robotaxi. The parameters for the robotaxi launch in June are also a far cry from what’s been promised.

But Ives seems to have accounted for all that and is still exceedingly optimistic:

“There will be many setbacks... but given its unmatched scale and scope globally we believe Tesla has the opportunity to own the autonomous market and down the road license its technology to other auto players both in the US and around the globe. Waymo will also be a winner and Uber will benefit in autonomous... but we see the true autonomous winner as Tesla and over the coming year more investors will recognize this AI vision.”