Morgan Stanley and Two Other Firms Raise Tesla Price Targets, but Stock Remains Under Pressure
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Three Wall Street banks raised Tesla's price target after a strong Q2 delivery beat, yet none upgraded their rating — the stock edged up just $0.14 pre-market, signaling that deliveries alone no longer move the needle.
How big was the delivery beat?
Tesla delivered roughly 480,000 vehicles in Q2, up about 25% year-on-year and well above Wall Street's prior estimate of around 406,000.
This means → actual deliveries topped consensus by nearly 100,000 units — a sizable gap.
Yet all three banks responded the same way: raise the target, keep the rating. In plain terms = the numbers looked good, but not good enough to change anyone's fundamental call on the stock.
What exactly did each bank do?
Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco nudged his target from $415 to $417, held his equal-weight rating, and said the strong deliveries should support Q2 earnings due July 22.
Barclays analyst Dan Levy raised his target from $360 to $370, also holding equal-weight.
Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan — one of Tesla's most prominent bears — lifted his target from $125 to $130 but kept his sell rating.
In plain terms = the most bullish of the three added just $2; the most bearish still targets less than a third of Tesla's current price.
What is the bear case about?
Langan flagged rising input costs for memory chips, copper, and lithium — despite the delivery strength.
Lithium is the key raw material in EV batteries; higher lithium costs squeeze margins directly.
This means → in his view, "selling more cars" does not equal "making more money" — cost pressure could eat into the gains from higher volumes.
Why did the stock barely react to good news?
Tesla rose just $0.14 to $394.90 pre-market, then traded sideways.
This reflects a market that now cares far more about Tesla's AI-related progress than any single-quarter delivery beat.
In plain terms = investors already price Tesla as a tech stock — tell them cars sold well, and they ask about robots and robotaxis.
What comes next?
Tesla's market cap sits at roughly $1.8 trillion, dwarfing Toyota — the world's second-largest automaker by value — at about $250 billion. Its valuation logic is tech, not autos.
Analysts say the real catalysts are humanoid-robot commercialization or robotaxi expansion into more cities — not bottom-line earnings beats.
The July 22 earnings report is the near-term litmus test — whether it delivers substantive AI progress will determine if this valuation can hold.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.