By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock was trading 1.2% higher in Monday’s premarket following an upgrade to ‘buy’ from Jefferies with a target of $850 from the previous $700.
The stock was earlier rated ‘neutral’ at the brokerage. The new target price is 21.6% higher from the stock’s Friday close of $699.10.
The company's decision to make it mandatory for workers at its Reno-area facility in Nevada to wear a mask, irrespective of their vaccination status, also added to the positive sentiment, given it shows the intent of the company to keep its engines humming and get on with life-as-usual while dealing with the pandemic. The company cited the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus for its move. Earlier, vaccinated workers were excused from wearing the mask.
The electric vehicle maker’s second-quarter results, declared on July 26, drove Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) to revise the forecast. Both earnings and topline came above expectations.
Tesla’s automotive revenue almost doubled and income from operations soared more than four-fold, helped by record sales of its electric vehicles. The company delivered 201,304 vehicles during the quarter and upheld its full-year forecast despite the global chip shortage that has disrupted the plans of most automotive groups this year.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.45 on total revenue of $11.95 billion which rose 98%. Delivery numbers were also high on investors' minds, and these too were ahead of estimates. The average selling price of its vehicles fell 2% year-on-year and that was expected as the share of cheaper Made-in-China units in the total mix grew.