Shares of EV major, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) slipped in morning trading on Thursday morning after its Investor Day fell short of specifics. Elon Musk unveiled his grand master plan part-3 that talked about a “clear path” to a more sustainable earth. This included eliminating fossil fuels, “re-powering the grid with renewable fuels” and a switch by consumers and businesses to all-electric vehicles. The company’s management talked about increasing its battery production, both for Tesla’s EVs and its utility-scale energy storage systems.
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Regarding increasing its production capacity, Tom Zhu, head of the global production at Tesla pointed out that the company as of March 1, had produced 4 million cars in total. Tesla aims to produce 20 million electric vehicles every year by 2030. In 2022, the company delivered 1.31 million vehicles.
When it comes to its manufacturing plans, the company unveiled a new manufacturing platform that would enable the building of next-gen EVs in a more efficient manner to reduce costs. The company is working on a new powertrain that will have a permanent magnet motor without new rare earths.
Tesla’s management confirmed a new Cybertruck but did not give a sneak preview. What’s more, there have also been reports that the company aims to change the look of its top-selling Model Y crossover SUV. Unfortunately, more details were not disclosed at the Investor Day.
In other news, the company confirmed that a new Gigafactory will be built near the northern Mexican city of Monterrey.
Tesla addressed the issue of lithium mining and added that it is more focused on refining lithium rather than mining it. Drew Baglino, SVP of powertrain and energy engineering stated that the company has broken ground on a proposed lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, and is looking at starting output within a year. The company did not address reports that it is looking at taking over lithium mining company, Sigma Lithium (SGML)
Will Tesla be able to take on the rising competition in China? Zhu addressed this question and commented, “As long as you offer a product with value at affordable price you don’t have to worry about demand.” Musk added that while demand is a “function of affordability not desire” even “small changes in the price have a big effect on demand.”
Analyst’s Take on Tesla’s Investor Day
Long-time Tesla bull, top-rated Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives came away upbeat from its Investor Day and commented, “For investors its crystal clear just how far ahead Tesla is ahead of the rest of the auto industry when it comes to producing and scaling EVs with last night another display of the pure breadth and scale of Tesla globally.”
Ives is bullish on TSLA with a Buy rating and a price target of $225 that implies an upside potential of 10.9% at current levels.
Besides Ives, other analysts remain cautiously optimistic about TSLA stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 22 Buys, six Holds and three Sells.
