Today, Truist Securities provided feedback on a test drive of Tesla’s (TSLA) latest self-driving software. Five-star analyst William Stein called the new version impressive, but noted that it’s not yet fully self-driving. Still, the electric car maker’s shares closed up 5.6% in trading today.
He noted some positive progress but also highlighted significant issues, such as the need to intervene to avoid collisions and to respond to police hand signals during funeral processions.
Despite these issues, Truist is hopeful that Tesla will continue to improve its autonomous capabilities, but warns that such progress may not be possible in time for the robotaxi event in October. Truist Securities has maintained its Hold rating on Tesla but has not set a price target. It is worth noting that thus far, Stein’s stock ratings have a success rate of 75% with an average return per rating of 30.4%.
Robotaxis will be a key catalyst
Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions — to eventually have a fleet of self-driving vehicles and make money operating as driverless taxis — are sure to be a key catalyst for both the company and its share price.In fact, TipRanks’ Bulls Say Bear Say tool shows that bullish analysts agree, as shown in the image below.
But bears see big challenges ahead, as robotaxis will almost certainly face performance and regulatory hurdles before they can go mainstream. Either way, the program could be either very good or disastrous for stock prices, depending on the level of success.
Should you buy, sell or hold Tesla?
Overall, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 11 Buys, 12 Holds, and 7 Sells over the past three months, as shown in the chart below: The average price target for TSLA is $213.92 per share, indicating a downside risk of 7.83%, after the stock price fell 13% over the past 12 months.
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