Tesla Ev By Vladimir Srajber(Pexels)

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By Pras Subramanian

Tesla's (TSLA) end-of-year rampage rolled on Monday, with shares hitting another new high based on optimism for Tesla's "autonomous opportunity" and the Trump factor.

Tesla shares jumped over 6%, closing over $463 per share. The stock is up a whopping 18% in the past five days, reflecting positive news reports regarding Tesla's — and CEO Elon Musk’s — connection to President-elect Donald Trump. Wall Street analysts subsequently re-rated the stock — most recently Tesla mega-bull Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities.

“We estimate the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth at least $1 trillion alone for Tesla and we fully expect under a Trump White House these key initiatives will now get fast tracked,” Ives wrote in a note to clients on Dec. 16, upping his price target to $515 to from $400.

Case in point, Reuters reported on Friday that Team Trump has recommended that the new administration remove a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) order requiring automakers to report crashes involving self-driving or autonomous driving systems. Such a move would obviously be a good thing for Tesla. The company has had to report more than 1,500 crashes to NHTSA involving its FSD (Full Self-Driving) and Autopilot software, Reuters said.

Last month, Bloomberg News reported Trump’s transition team has told advisers it plans to make a “federal framework” for full self-driving (FSD) or autonomous vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities, according to people familiar with the matter.

Easing rules for the introduction of self-driving vehicles, especially those without pedals or steering wheels, would be a huge boon for Tesla. Musk has repeatedly said that the future of the company hinges on FSD and autonomous technologies.

Earlier this month, Edison Yu of Deutsche Bank, John Murphy of Bank of America, and Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley upped their price targets for Tesla as the shares rallied.

Tesla stock is now up a whopping 75% since Election Day.

Ives also predicted that Tesla could hit $2 trillion in market cap by the end of 2025 (it stands at around $1.5 trillion now) as Tesla’s “autonomous vision starts to take shape,” along with “very solid Tesla delivery demand” from China adding to the gains.

Ives also sees Musk having a hand in China tariff discussions, with the possibility of tariff “carve outs” given to Tesla.

Such carve-outs would allow Tesla to export China-made EVs to the US with reduced or even no tariffs imposed. Tesla is presumably able to produce EVs more cheaply in China, though the company has not revealed how much better its margins and costs are for building vehicles on the mainland.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram

[Source :: Yahoo finance]