Tesla stock rose 2% in morning trading. One thing helping was a price target hike from Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro. On Sunday, he took his target to $508 from $483 and kept his Buy rating on shares, citing improved performance of Tesla’s Full-Self Driving driver assistance product.
Before the bump, on Friday, CEO Elon Musk spoke with Rob Baron, his “true and tested friend,” as well as a longtime Tesla and SpaceX shareholder, at the annual Baron Capital Investment Conference. The two men touched on space, robotics, robo-taxis, ChatGPT, AI, and chips for AI computing.
For Tesla watchers, not much new ground was covered. Still, it was an optimistic talk, with Musk reiterating some of his biggest ideas.
“Ultimately [there will] be billions of humanoid robots,” said Musk early in the hourlong interview. “Who would not want their own personal R2-D2 [and] C-3PO,” referencing the famous Star Wars droids.
That isn’t a new idea for Musk. He believes robotics will be the largest industry in human history and that there can be far more robots than humans on Earth, doing everything from factory work to surgery.
The potential for AI-trained robots is a big reason Tesla is currently valued at about $1.3 trillion.
Musk also covered familiar ground about the value of self-driving cars and robo-taxis. Tesla recently launched a robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, and Tesla owners can pay $99 per month for the EV maker’s FSD, which can handle most driving tasks without human intervention.
He also reiterated a newer idea that Tesla might build a factory to build its own computer chips for AI computing. Musk wants to develop AI technology quickly, and the semiconductor industry might not produce high-quality chips fast enough.
Chip fabrication is a relatively new idea for Musk, who has never been accused of going too slow or failing to dream big. That was reflected again on Friday.
Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was flat year to date after sliding about 6% this past week. Shares were up about 26% over the past 12 months.