Bank of America picked up coverage on Tesla (TSLA) once again, reinstating the stock with a Buy rating. The firm called Tesla (TSLA) the current leader in consumer autonomy.
“We expect TSLA to quickly become a leader in robotaxi services, given its ability to scale more profitably than competitors. We see autonomous vehicles spurring the next era of mobility and, as the most significant change agent in the Auto 2.0 landscape, offering consumers the prospect of saving time, safer travel, and more accessible transportation,” updated analyst Alexander Perry.
Later this year, Tesla (TSLA) is expected to scale its robotaxis quickly, which now operate in San Francisco and Austin, with 7 additional markets in the first half of the year alone. Tesla’s (TSLA) camera-only approach was noted to be technically harder but much cheaper and leveraging a consumer-fleet data engine. The strategy should allow the Austin-based company to scale more profitably compared to robotaxi competitors, while the lack of drivers gives it a cost advantage over rideshare players, according to Perry and his team. Meanwhile, the Optimus humanoid segment is valued at over $30B.
BofA set a price objective of $460 based on its sum-of-the-parts analysis.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were up 1.9% in premarket action to $399.96.