"Musk Magic" Is Back: CFRA Analyst Raises Tesla's Price Target Due to the Flying Car

"Musk's magic" is back, according to CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson. The “thrilling” presentation of the “flying” Roadster electric car convinced him to revise his view on Tesla stock: he raised his price target for the company’s shares and now expects them to rise by 34%. Meanwhile, other Wall Street analysts—who also largely viewed the company’s presentation positively—are debating whether the launch of the Roadster, which uses engines from SpaceX, hints at a future merger between the two companies led by Musk.

CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson raised his price target for Tesla shares from $385 to $475 following the unveiling of the “flying” Tesla Roadster electric car, according to MarketWatch. The new target price is approximately 34% higher than the closing price on Friday, October 16.

“Against the backdrop of a sense that ‘Musk’s magic’ has returned after a string of lackluster events, and with investor sentiment at a turning point, we see virtually no obstacles to the completion of the merger that will create Elon Inc. We believe this has long been part of Musk’s master plan,” Nelson wrote in a note cited by MarketWatch.

Although opinions on Wall Street differ as to exactly when Musk will attempt to merge the core assets of his empire, Nelson estimates there is a 90% chance this will happen by the end of next year. This would mark the second major merger of Musk’s companies in two years, following SpaceX’s acquisition of the AI startup xAI in February 2026.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares fell 2.1% on Friday, October 16, amid a broad market decline. SpaceX shares also fell by more than 1%.

— “Musk is shaping the future of mobility by integrating automotive and rocket technologies. At the very least, this subtly plants in investors’ minds an argument in favor of a merger [between Tesla and SpaceX] from the perspective of engineering efficiency,” Bill Birmingham, head of the analytics department at Rex Financial, a provider of exchange-traded investment products, told MarketWatch.

— “We believe that [the stunt-performing Roadster] is just a small example of the synergy between Tesla and SpaceX, and we estimate an 80% probability of a merger between them by the end of 2027—for a range of strategic reasons related to AI and data,” — Yahoo Finance quotes Yorkville Ives partner and tech optimist Dan Ives.

— “If I were on the board of directors at Tesla or SpaceX, I’d ask Elon: Why not just merge them?” said Eric Jackson, founder of EMJ Capital and a technology analyst, on Yahoo Finance. — “He definitely likes to merge his companies, but when both are trading at a premium, it doesn’t make sense.” There was a time when SolarCity was essentially on its last legs, and back then it made sense to merge it with Tesla. There was a time when X sort of existed on its own, and back then it made sense to merge it with SpaceX. But now both companies are getting the ‘Elon premium.’”

— Barclays analyst Dan Levy expects an announcement of a merger between SpaceX and Tesla before Tesla’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which he says should take place no later than early December. The merger could be presented to investors as a move primarily related to artificial intelligence, given both companies’ work in this field, he explains. However, as Levy wrote to clients on Wednesday, “control may increasingly become the factor that pushes Musk” toward the merger.

On Thursday, electric car manufacturer Tesla once again unveiled the Roadster 2.0—a high-end sports car that, as the company demonstrated, is capable of hovering and flipping in the air using cold-gas engines developed by SpaceX. Investors had to wait nine years for this event, notes MarketWatch. Using engines borrowed from SpaceX and a vacuum system that held the car to the road surface, the Roadster drove up a curved ramp until it was in a “wheel-up” position, then broke away from the ramp, flipped in midair, and landed. During the presentation, the Roadster also jumped over a row of Tesla cars.

During the event, Musk called the Roadster 2.0 the “culmination” of the close collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineers.

During the quarterly earnings call in July, Musk was asked about a possible merger. He told investors that there were “more and more overlaps” between the companies, but that he could not discuss a merger during that call.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor