Tesla shares hit a new high for the first time in a year. It returned to the top 7 expensive companies

Shares of electric car maker Tesla set a new all-time record in trading on December 16 and at the close - for the first time in about a year. The stock rose 3.07% to $489.88, and reached $491.5 at the peak of the day.

The company is now valued at $1.63 trillion: it was able to overtake the capitalization of chip developer Broadcom and became the seventh largest U.S. company by market value (after Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta), wrote MarketWatch with reference to data from Dow Jones Market Data. Thus, for the first time since May 29, the top-7 largest U.S. companies were members of the "Magnificent Seven" (Magnificent Seven) - a group of technology giants, the publication noted.

In addition, the growth of Tesla shares increased the fortune of its CEO Elon Musk by $8.2 billion in one day, according to the Forbes Real-Time ranking, which is updated in real time according to quotes. Musk's fortune is now valued by Forbes at $684.2 billion, $432.2 billion more than Google co-founder Larry Page, who is the second richest businessman in the world.

Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh on Monday raised his target price on Tesla shares from $475 to $530, which is 8% higher than the current value of the securities, Barron's reports. Rakesh also reiterated a buy recommendation on the stock (Buy rating). "We believe that improvements in Full Self-Driving technology (driver assistance system. - Oninvest) could help accelerate the expansion of the robotaxi fleet in Austin, San Francisco, and possibly an earlier departure from the presence of a human observer," said the Mizuho analyst.

Rakesh compares Tesla's progress to that of Alphabet's Waymo unit to gauge the scaling potential of the robotaxi business. According to his data, Waymo is already making about 450,000 fully autonomous trips per week, up from 250,000 in April. The company's goal is to reach 1 million rides per week by the end of 2026.

Barclays analyst Dan Levy on Monday maintained a neutral rating for the automaker's securities (meaning a hold recommendation) and a $350 target price, pointing out that Tesla's service expansion could be hampered by fragmented requirements from different states. "Interest in Tesla's autonomous cars and the robotaxi story continues to grow, especially after the company partially succeeded in getting rid of the mandatory driver-observer requirement by the end of the year," he said. However, Levy said there remain "key questions about the timing and scale of deployment" of robotaxis.

Analysts' opinions on Tesla shares are divergent: about equal parts of them advise to buy (20) and hold (18), while 12 more believe that the securities should be sold. The Wall Street consensus target price is $408, down almost 17% from Tuesday's closing price.

The stock was boosted by CEO Elon Musk's announcement on Dec. 15 that Tesla is testing a robotaxi "without humans in the car." The company launched its artificial intelligence-based robotaxi service in June in Austin, Texas, but so far a human has been sitting in the front passenger seat, monitoring traffic and ready to intervene if necessary. Musk said in October that he hoped to remove the instructors by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

However, Tesla's business remains under pressure due to the elimination of subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles in the United States, reputational costs associated with Musk's figure, as well as increasing competition from cheaper or attractive models from China's BYD and Xiaomi and Europe's Volkswagen, CNBC noted. In October, Tesla introduced more affordable versions of the Model Y crossover and Model 3 sedan, but that has not yet helped sales in either the U.S. or Europe, the channel recalled. In America, the cheaper modifications, according to Cox Automotive, "cannibalized" demand for more expensive models: in November, Tesla sales in the U.S. fell to the lowest level in four years.

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