Thursday, July 11, 2024

Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's Auto Analyst Raises His Valuation Of Tesla's Energy Business, Lowers Valuation Of Auto Biz (TSLA)

The stock is up another $4.74 (+1.80%) at $268.00, just three days after we said it "was acting tired" at $249.07 (down $2.45 Monday pre-market) following the 27% gain in the previous week. "Chartology: Tesla Stock Now Has A Very Wide Range To Churn Through (TSLA)"

I should be so tired.

From Investor's Business Daily, July 11:

A longtime Tesla (TSLA) bull hiked his Tesla Energy value model Wednesday, while also reducing how much value the EV giant's auto business is bringing to the stock's price. This comes after several analysts called Tesla's Q2 energy storage numbers last week the big winner from its delivery results.

Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's high-profile auto analyst, kept his Tesla stock price target of 310 unchanged Wednesday, but increased Tesla Energy to $50 per share, up from his previous $36 per share view. That comes out to a $183 billion business.

Jonas has upped his view on Tesla Energy based on increased annual revenue growth projections and expectations that gross margins will hit 26% in 2030 vs. the previous 23% prediction.

Jonas wrote Wednesday that as generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) increases energy demand, there is an "increased interest" in Tesla's energy business. The analyst previously has said that Tesla Energy is "uniquely positioned to benefit from investment in the U.S. electrical grid accelerated by the AI boom."

Meanwhile, Jonas also cut his valuation on Wednesday of Tesla's auto segment by $15, bringing it to $56 per share. Jonas sees reduced battery electric market penetration by 2030 and "continued EV deceleration in the wake of China protectionism and a hybrid renaissance."

The analyst also projects Tesla Energy margins will surpass the company's auto margins in 2024 and that by 2030 Tesla Energy can generate EPS of $2.00.

Separately, Goldman Sachs raised the its Tesla price target to 248 from 175 to 248, but kept a neutral rating. The firm also upped its 2024 earnings estimate, reflecting higher deliveries.

Tesla stock gained 0.8% to 265.40 during market action on Thursday, after booking an 11th consecutive advance on Wednesday.

Energy Storage In Q2
The decision by Jonas to reconfigure his view on Tesla's energy segment comes after the EV giant reported last week that it deployed 9.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage products in Q2. That more than doubled the prior high of 4.053 GWh in Q1.

Tesla currently offers solar panels and a solar roof, along with Powerwalls for energy storage. On the commercial side, Tesla also offers the "megapack."

Chief Executive Elon Musk said during Tesla's June 13 shareholder meeting that the company is "tracking" toward 200%-300% year-over-year growth in energy storage and deployment of stationery pack....

....MUCH MORE

Recently on the storage business, July 5's The Big Money In Tesla's Energy Storage Business (TSLA) and June 26's "Morgan Stanley Analyst Adam Jonas Writes A Love Letter To Tesla (TSLA)" and the links embedded therein which began with:

A confession of bullish bias up front, from April 24's "Tesla Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript (TSLA)":

In pre-market action the stock is up $17.47 (+12.07%) at $162.15.

Below are the words that are adding billions ($50+) to the company's valuation. 

Personally I think Musk is going to pull it off, but that's just me—perhaps informed by posting on the company and its stock since before the June 2010 share flotation (which, adjusted for the 5:1 and 3:1 stock splits gives a $1.133 IPO price)—however, there are plenty of other opinions to choose from if one doesn't care for that one....

And going back to a January 2023 post:

One of the more interesting bits in the 8K filing (and slide deck) was "Energy Storage" up 152% year-over-year in Q4. Elon is successfully building an entire new business inside of Tesla.

The "successfully" was underlined in the original. 

And related:

June 26 "Tesla Delivery Results Are Coming. Brace for More Bad News" (TSLA) plus more Nvidia
I don't think the market cares at the moment. It's a sort of looking across the valley to see the highlands opposite sort of thing.