Tesla Stock Getting Attractive At This Price, Says Goldman Sachs
Electric automaker Tesla ( TSLA ) got an upgrade Wednesday, as Goldman Sachs said the current share price isn’t accounting for the firm’s “disruptive potential.” Goldman Sachs analyst Patrick Archambault lifted his rating on Tesla stock to buy from neutral, though he kept his price target at 250, as the stock has fallen well below that level over the last three weeks. Tesla stock was up 4% in early trading on the stock market today , near 213. “While we believe the (production) volume targets are ambitious, Street and investor expectations seem more grounded, and following a 23% decline in the share price post the Model 3 unveil , we do not believe Tesla shares are fully capturing the company’s disruptive potential,” Archambault wrote in his research note. “This, combined with a more stable macro backdrop (relative to January/February) and increased confidence in Model 3 demand (from orders and our competitive benchmarking), drives attractive risk/reward.” Unlike his counterpart at Evercore last week, Archambault didn’t sound confident that Tesla could achieve its goal of 500,000 vehicles built by 2018, a new target CEO Elon Musk announced in Tesla’s its Q1 earnings report this month. The new goal is two years earlier than planned. But Archambault also thinks that most of Wall Street doesn’t really believe it either, lowering the downside risk. “While management was not clear why goals were set so aggressively, we view the adjustment as a target aimed at motivating employees and suppliers,” wrote the analyst. “We also believe these projections are heavily discounted with Street estimates for 2018 EBITDA and net income (excluding some of the more extreme outliers) coming in 21% and 24% below our base case.”