By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares jumped 6% Monday following its announcement of record deliveries in the March quarter.
The company Friday said it delivered 184,800 vehicles and produced 180,338 cars in the first quarter of 2021, topping the 180,570 deliveries of last year’s fourth quarter and also estimates of 177,822 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data.
The record deliveries prompted analysts to upgrade the stock.
“We now believe Tesla could exceed 850k deliveries for the year with 900k a stretch goal, despite the chip shortage and various supply chain issues lingering across the auto sector. . .we believe the tide is turning on the Street and the eye popping delivery numbers coming out of China cannot be ignored..,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note. He put a $1000 target on the stock.
Wedbush’s target is 51% higher than the stock’s Thursday closing price. Friday was a market holiday in the United States.
Tesla’s robust performance is noteworthy given that the quarter has been a rough one for the industry still trying to come out of the effect of the pandemic.
The electric vehicle maker faces several challenges, starting from a shortage of chips that go into its cars to a reduction of subsidies in the U.K. and the anti-American sentiment in China, its biggest market.