Tesla (TSLA -1.72%) shares surged nearly 5% Tuesday morning, getting a boost from some recent electric vehicle (EV) sales data. The stock also received support from a bullish call by a Wall Street analyst.
Tesla shares pared some of the early gains with the stock trading higher by 2% as of 2:22 p.m. ET.
Can Tesla stock reach $800?
In a recent report, Morgan Stanley analysts raised Tesla's price target from $400 to $430 per share. They also offered a bull case scenario on which the firm applies a price target of $800 for Tesla based on its robotaxi potential.
Another catalyst today came from a report from EV research firm Rho Motion. The firm reported that December marked the fourth consecutive global monthly record of passenger car and light-duty EV sales. Importantly, it said that all major regions showed monthly sequential and year-over-year growth in December. It marked a new monthly record with over 1.9 million EVs sold, a 5% increase over the prior record. That includes battery electric as well as plug-in hybrid models.
That momentum bodes well for Tesla, the global EV leader. But it won't get the stock price to $800 alone. Morgan Stanley lead analyst Adam Jonas does see a path to that level, though, as he emphasized the increasingly important role of artificial intelligence (AI) in Tesla's plans. A fully autonomous robotaxi network is what Jonas sees as potentially pushing the stock to his bull case price target.
While investors shouldn't expect the stock to jump to the potential $800 price, Tesla's progress using data collection and AI to launch a full self-driving software package should be monitored. If it does offer that software to Tesla owners, an autonomous fleet of highly profitable robotaxis might not be far behind.
