News

Tesla stock ( TSLA ) roared to another all-time high on Friday, capping off a huge week for the stock and CEO Elon Musk.

Shares of Tesla rose over 4% on Friday and reached a closing high of $436.23. The stock hit a record high on Wednesday as well, and it finished up 12.08% for the week.

Call it the Trump effect. Tesla stock is up over 73% since Trump’s election win last month. CEO Elon Musk’s big bet on a Trump win and the resulting influence he is seen as having on the new administration has investors bullish on Tesla’s prospects.

For example, Reuters reported earlier on Friday that Team Trump has recommended that the new administration whack a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) order requiring automakers to report crashes involving self-driving or autonomous driving systems. Such a move would obviously be a good thing for Tesla. The company has had to report more than 1,500 crashes to NHTSA involving its FSD (Full Self-Driving) and Autopilot software, Reuters said.

But it just wasn't Trump this week — there was other good news for Tesla.

On Tuesday, Tesla’s China unit said it sold 21,900 electric vehicles on the mainland during the first week of December, its highest weekly sales thus far in the fourth quarter. The disclosure comes after Tesla revealed November was its best month of the year, with 73,000 units sold, Reuters reported . One big reason for its success: In November and early December, the company offered incentives like 0% interest loans for five years and 10,000 yuan (approximately $1,400) for new Model Y loans.

But, no doubt, it is the Musk-Trump connection that's playing a large factor in Tesla's monstrous run-up.

Analysts like Edison Yu of Deutsche Bank, John Murphy of BofA, and Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley have improved their price targets for the stock over the past few days, citing Musk and his closeness to the new administration.

“We raise our price target from $295 to $370, mainly assigning greater value to Tesla's autonomy efforts,” Yu wrote in a note to clients yesterday , adding that “given our belief the new US administration can streamline federal regulations around deployment of robotaxi, we increase our robotaxi forecasts.”

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas reiterated his Tesla "top pick" call and upped his price target to $400 from $310.

“From our ongoing client discussions, we hear enthusiasm for all things AI, data-centers, renewable energy, robotics and on-shoring,” Jonas wrote, noting that Musk’s emergence on the political scene may expand Tesla’s sphere of influence beyond cars.