Tesla shares hit an all-time high on Monday, after the electric carmaker announced strong first-quarter delivery numbers Sunday that outpaced analysts’ expectations.
Tesla shares surged as high as $294.15, blowing past a prior high of $291.42, set on Sept. 14, and pushing Tesla’s market capitalization past that of Ford’s. Tesla’s market cap is now about $47.8 billion, while Ford’s sits at about $44.8 billion.
However, Tesla is a few billion dollars shy of General Motors’ $50.9 billion market cap.
Baird analyst Ben Kallo said in a research note sent Sunday that Tesla is on track to meet or exceed guidance for the first half of 2017, “and we expect shares to trade higher as
continued execution allows investors to focus on the Model 3.”
And from here on out, “it’s all about the Model 3,” said Guggeheim analyst Rob Cihra, in a note sent Monday.
“To date, we believe Tesla’s high-priced, high-performance Model S sedan and X SUV have practically been pure-battery EV proofs of concept, while its upcoming Model 3 is rather the car Tesla has been working toward this whole time – its first to be engineered from the outset for mainstream $35K+ pricepoints and, most importantly, lower-cost/ease-of-manufacturing,” he said.
Cihra has a “buy” rating on the stock, and raised his price target from $300 to $320.