By Sam Boughedda
A Deutsche Bank analyst maintained a Buy rating on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) on Monday and moved the price target to $375 post stock split, following an investor meeting at the electric vehicle firm's gigafactory in Berlin.
The analyst said they had a guided tour of Tesla's new Gigafactory, test drove the Model Y Performance at high speed on the Autobahn, and had a meeting with Head of IR Martin Viecha.
The analyst was upbeat following the event, stating Deutsche Bank came away with the sense that Tesla's "new localized vehicle production in Europe could be a game-changer, making Tesla an even more formidable competitor in the region, while likely boosting the company's gross margins."
"The plant is already capacitized to produce 500k Model Y per year, but currently only staffed with 2 shifts; Tesla plans to increase to 4 shifts and full production sometime in 2023. The company acknowledged some production risk from any potential German Gas Crisis, confirming Giga Berlin's energy supply is similar to other OEMs producing in Germany, but pointed to its strong flexibility in steering its global vehicle production to regions where it sees strong demand," the analyst added.
"All in, we believe 2023 could be a pivotal year for Tesla and continue to view it as one of the most attractive stories in the autos sector. We adjust our estimates for the 3-for-1 stock split, taking our price target to $375, and reiterate our BUY rating," he concluded.
Tesla shares are down 1.9% at the time of writing on Monday.