TESLA STOCK UP FOR 8 STRAIGHT, WIPES OUT 2024 LOSES. 2 THINGS KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE.

Tesla stock is on one of its impressive runs—and it looks set to keep on heading higher.

Coming into Friday trading, Tesla stock has risen seven consecutive days, gaining 35% over the span. Better-than-expected second-quarter electric vehicle deliveries, accelerating growth in the company’s battery storage business, and growing optimism about Tesla’s artificial intelligence business have all contributed.

And the gains didn’t stop. Tesla stock closed up 2.1% at $251.52 on Friday, the eighth consecutive gain, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.

Tesla stock is up about $3, or 1%, year to date. That’s quite a feat considering shares traded below $140 in mid-April.

Friday’s gain could be tied to China. Tesla was recently included on a Jiangsu province government procurement list in China for the first time. It means Chinese public organizations can use Tesla EVs. In the past, Chinese government agencies didn’t use Teslas over data privacy fears. Tesla vehicles can record and report a lot of vehicle data.

It’s a small positive for the company. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment about the change.

In recent months, Tesla’s market share of all-electric vehicle sales in China has been running at about 10%.

Wall Street is also helping Tesla shares. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives recently boosted his target price to $300 a share from $275. He rates Tesla stock Buy and is bullish about Tesla’s AI opportunity.

“The key for Tesla’s stock looking ahead is the Street recognizing that Tesla is the most undervalued A.I. play in the market,” wrote Ives in a Friday report. There is “a historical Robotaxi Day ahead for Musk and Tesla on Aug. 8 that will lay the yellow brick road to FSD and an autonomous future.”

FSD is short for full self-driving. It’s Tesla’s highest-level driver assistance product that the company believes will one day let cars drive themselves, without requiring human oversight or intervention.

At the robotaxi event, investors will be waiting to see what a robotaxi will look like, what Tesla will charge, and how close Tesla is to having taxis truly drive themselves.

What happens then could determine whether Tesla stock can keep rising—or if its recent strength is just a lot of hot air.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]

2024-07-05T12:39:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd