Shares in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged to all-time highs on Monday morning after the electric car maker received its most bullish price forecast from a major Wall Street broker.
Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ – the equivalent of ‘buy’ – from ‘neutral’ and increased its price target to US$368 from US$223.
According to FactSet, that’s the highest price target on Wall Street from one of the bigger brokers.
A smaller firm, Dougherty & Co, has had a US$500 price target on Tesla for more than six months now.
“We have driven a Tesla for seven months in preparation for this report, and after conducting investor meetings with the company last week, we're finally ready to take a stand,” said analysts at Piper.
The analysts did warn that it will likely be a “bumpy ride” despite their confidence in their long-term destination.
“Even with all the risks, we think growth investors can’t afford to ignore this stock.”
They also stated that Tesla will begin Model 3 deliveries this year and not in the middle of next year as previously assumed.
Tesla shares are up 45% so far this year, and added 3% in the morning session on Monday to trade at US$312.