By Carly Forster
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is a Palo Alto, California based American automotive company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric powered cars and electric vehicle power-train components.
Tesla In The News
Shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged nearly 5% to a near record high of $263.74 on Monday, August 11th after Deutche Bank analyst Rod Lache upgraded his rating for the company from HOLD to BUY, raising his price target from $220 to $310. While citing stronger-than-expected growth prospects over the next few years, Lache reasoned, “At this point we see an increasingly clear path to 500,000 units of annual production by late this decade…And we don’t expect growth to end there, as Tesla is already contemplating opportunities for additional production capacity.” Lache expects that Tesla will move 60,000 cars in 2015 internationally, followed by 100,000 cars in 2016, and as much as 129,000 in 2017; a huge jump from the previous consensus of 51,000 in 2015, 60,000 in 2016, and 83,000 in 2017, respectively.
Lache’s Past Recommendations
Lache has a history of making recommendations for stocks in the automotive industry, including Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and Tenneco Inc (NYSE:TEN), helping him earn an overall +19.8% average return on all stocks and a 68% success rate in making recommendations.
On April 11 of this year, Lache upgraded his rating for Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) from HOLD to BUY and raised his price target from $18.50 to $19. He cited “significant pricing opportunity” from Ford’s pick-up truck price premium, noting, “This conclusion, combined with our favorable views of Ford’s prospects in Europe and China, leave us increasingly confident that Ford is heading for a significant earnings inflection in 2015-2016.” Since then, Ford Motor has gone up from $15.40 to $17.17, helping Lache earn a +9.9% average return on the stock.
Separately, on December 13, 2013, Lache reiterated a BUY rating on Tenneco Inc (NYSE:TEN), raising his price target from $59 to $65. He reasoned, “We believe that our expectations for modest growth in North America and Europe are well supported; they may ultimately prove conservative.” Since then, Tenneco has gone up from $55.49 to $64.20, helping Lache earn a +15.0% average return on the stock.
On the other hand, Lache has not always been so accurate with his recommendations. On June 6 of this year, Lache maintained a BUY rating for General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) with a $41 price target. He explained, “We expect investors to remain somewhat cautious on GM for the time being, given the widely held view that the company is currently at the peak of their product cycle but we maintain our Buy rating on valuation. We continue to believe that our approach to modeling and valuing GM (i.e. incorporating an abundance of conservatism with regard to pricing and market share assumptions) is most reasonable at this juncture.” Since then, General Motors has gone down from $36.55 to $33.80, attributing to a -0.4% average return on the stock.
Conclusion
Lache likes to ride in the fast lane given his experience in making recommendations in the automotive industry. Would you trust his latest recommendation based off this financial advice history?
To see more recommendations from Rod Lache, visit TipRanks today!
Carly Forster writes about stock market news. She can be reached at [email protected]
