Charged: Tesla surges post-election, hits $1 trillion market cap

Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to keep up-to-the-second on breaking news in the electric vehicle and clean energy space, as well as which stocks in these sectors that the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.

From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM (GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.

GAMECHANGER: Shares of Tesla outperformed following Trump’s win in the presidential election, with the company hitting $1 trillion market cap.

Wedbush raised the firm’s price target on Tesla to $400 from $300 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares, saying it believes the Trump White House win “will be a gamechanger” for the autonomous driving and artificial intelligence story for Tesla over the coming years. Wedbush estimates the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth $1 trillion alone for Tesla and fully expects that under a Trump White House, “these key initiatives will now get fast tracked as the federal regulatory spiderweb that Musk & Co. have encountered over the past few years around FSD/autonomous clears significantly under a new Trump era.”

BofA also raised the firm’s price target on Tesla to $350 from $265, while keeping a Buy rating on the shares following the U.S. election results. The firm’s analysis has shown that Tesla should be “relatively indifferent directly to most policies” discussed in BofA’s recent election note, but may benefit from a shift to a federal regulation of autonomous vehicles and full self-driving, or FSD, nationwide. In addition, it is difficult to judge how Elon Musk’s increasingly close public relationship with President Trump could benefit Tesla, but “this needs to be monitored closely,” says BofA, which now values the stock at 10-times EV/Sales, up from 8-times that metric previously.

Click here to check out Tesla’s recent Media Buzz Sentiment as measured by TipRanks.

GRAVITY ORDERS BEGIN: R.F. Lafferty upgraded Lucid Group (LCID) to Buy from Hold with a $4 price target following the Q3 report. Lucid began taking orders for the Gravity this week, and the company anticipates a “soft production” in the coming weeks following further details on when customer deliveries will begin, the firm tells investors in a research note. R.F. Lafferty cites the company’s cost improvement, continued volume growth, and balance sheet strength for the upgrade. It believes Lucid’s cost structure is improving while maintaining steady sales growth.

REGULATORY CREDIT RISK: BofA downgraded Rivian Automotive to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $13, down from $20. While noting that the company is on track for a positive gross margin in Q4 and calling it “one of the most viable among the startup EV automakers,” the firm notes that positive gross margin will be supported by regulatory credits that could be at risk under the Trump administration. BofA also now expects only moderate growth in deliveries in 2025.

SOLAR STOCKS PLUNGE: On the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, solar stocks (FSLR) and Nextracker (NXT).

DIMMER OUTLOOK: HSBC downgraded Enphase Energy (ENPH) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $81, down from $154. The firm sees a “dimmer demand outlook” in Europe in 2025, while the U.S. residential market also sees more uncertainties after the election. There is also rising concern from investors on competition with Tesla is a bigger risk to Enphase’s current valuation premium, HSBC tells investors in a research note.

Jefferies also downgraded Enphase Energy to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $61, down from $93. The firm sees a difficult setup for the shares, driven by growing uncertainty on residential solar following the election outcome, ongoing pressure from Tesla exacerbated by Enphase maintaining elevated prices, and a market shift favoring value over quality. Enphase’s trading multiples remain above peers in spite of the recent selloff and no longer seem justified as Jefferies lowered estimates on EBITDA growth in the outer years, Jefferies tells investors in a research note.

MOVING TO THE SIDELINES: Mizuho downgraded SolarEdge (SEDG) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $11, down from $35, post the earnings report. The firm cites weaker European demand, lower “fire-sale” selling prices, and lower EBITDA margin through 2026 at least and potential loss of tax credits and U.S. growth under President Trump 2.0 for the target cut. It attributes SolarEdge’s limited visibility into a Europe demand recovery, positive EBITDA timeline, and valuation for the downgrade.

SELL SOLAREDGE AFTER ELECTION: Piper Sandler downgraded SolarEdge to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $9, down from $17. It is “difficult to encapsulate how low expectations were” entering SolarEdge’s earnings report, and yet, the results “still raised our hackles,” the firm tells investors in a research note. Piper says the Q3 results were underwhelming given larger than expected write-downs. It finds SolarEdge’s sequentially declining revenues concerning since the company no longer destocking the U.S. channel. It believes “radical cost reductions are required for survival.”

Meanwhile, BofA downgraded SolarEdge to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $14, down from $21, and lowered the firm’s rating on Array Technologies (ARRY) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $7, down from $11, after the presidential election results led to a solar sector-wide selloff as investors assess the potential impact of shifting federal policies. Although Trump’s policies would take time to take shape, his aim to amend the IRA and increase tariffs heightens the risk of significant sector impact, the analyst tells investors. The firm thinks inverter companies Enphase and SolarEdge could be adversely affected in a scenario where it sees risk to the domestic content bonuses and reduced residential ITC credits, diminishing the appeal of rooftop solar, BofA noted.

Guggenheim also downgraded Array Technologies to Neutral from Buy and removed its previous $12 price target on the shares. Additionally, the firm downgraded Sunnova Energy (NOVA) to Neutral from Buy and downgraded Sunrun (RUN) to Neutral from Buy with no price targets on their shares. In assessing Tuesday’s election outcome, the firm believes that investors need to reconsider the level of risk associated with investing in energy transition equities, particularly with respect to potential policy and trade outcomes. However, it adds that it does see opportunities for companies with strong competitive positions, U.S.-based manufacturing and no requirements for accessing capital markets, and as such the firm reiterates Buy ratings for Itron (ITRI), Nextracker and First Solar with price targets of $135, $55 and $335, respectively.