Tesla’s (TSLA) stock is rallying and is near its all-time high after a billionaire investor and an analyst predicted that the stock will jump. Billionaire investor Ron Baron told CNBC that the automaker’s shares will reach $500-$600 next year before reaching $1,000 in 2020, while Berneberg analyst Alexander Haissl upgraded the stock to Buy and increased his price target on the shares to a Street-high $464. $1,000 BY 2020: Baron, who said he bought 1.6M shares of Tesla about three and a half years ago, predicted that the company’s revenue and operating profits would surge to $70B and $10B, respectively, in 2020 while appearing on CNBC this morning. Other automakers will not be able to eliminate Tesla’s technology edge, according to Baron. However, CNBC noted that a number of tech giants, including Apple (AAPL), are working on autonomous driving.

STREET-HIGH TARGET: Traditional automakers will not be able to compete with Tesla in the electric vehicle market as long as they continue to use a “low-risk, low cost approach,” agrees Haissl. The analyst, who estimated that Tesla’s investments in electric vehicles would be about 40% higher than that of Daimler (DDAIF) and Volkswagen (VLKAY), does not expect other automakers to adopt Tesla’s strategy until the early 2020s. Tesla will “gain unencumbered market share for a longer period than expected,” enabling it to become more profitable than other luxury automakers, the analyst stated. In the short-term, Tesla’s profitability is “unimportant,” as it will focus on gaining market share, according to Haissl. However, over the longer term its “cash profit per car” can exceed that of traditional automakers by more than 50%, “driven by best in class cost base and production processes and a high share of optional software content,” wrote Haissl, who increased his price target on the shares to $464 from $193.

PRICE ACTION: In early trading, Tesla rose 3.4% to $371. The stock’s all-time high is $376.87. 

 

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