Is Tesla Motors Inc. the Most Important Car Company in the World?

In 2011, when Tesla Motors was trading at around $26, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas put a $70 price target on the electric-car maker. The absurd target shocked the Street. Fast-forward a few years later: Jonas made a similar dramatic change to his target, raising it from $153 to $320 earlier this year.

And now Jonas is speaking up again. While he isn’t boosting his price target this time, his latest note to investors regarding Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors is, once again, unashamedly optimistic. But considering the stock’s 4% jump Monday, at the time of this writing, the market doesn’t seem to think he is crazy.

Model S. Image source: Tesla Motors.

Jonas’ latest thoughts on Tesla
With glimpses of the report shared by the LA Times, Jonas is still a Tesla believer:

Not even two years after the delivery of the first Model S, Tesla Motors has transformed from fledgling start-up to arguably the most important car company in the world. We are not joking.

How so? Jonas points to several areas where Tesla is becoming increasingly important.

1. Automotive suppliers. Suppliers are considering building dedicated lines and facilities for Tesla alone, according to Jonas (citing a senior executive at a major auto supplier). The supplier recounted how Tesla operates uniquely “in terms of electrification, connected cars and autonomous driving.”

2. Competitors. General Motors has a team dedicated solely to studying Tesla and developing long-range electric vehicles that will hopefully be just as successful as the Model S, Jonas notes. And a BMW engineer explained to Jonas that Tesla has “helped reinvigorate the spirit of automobile innovation,” he says.

3. The U.S. economy. Tesla’s $5 billion Gigafactory project to build the world’s largest factory for lithium-ion battery production is the beginning of an influx of new jobs for the U.S. The Gigafactory alone will not only create thousands of jobs, but Tesla’s rise to prominence over the next seven years could create as many as 100,000 jobs from indirect support, Jonas believes.

Tesla’s Fremont factory. Image source: Tesla Motors.

And perhaps more interesting, Jonas notes that Tesla is the “most American made car on the road.” Jonas asserts that Tesla’s vehicles have about “90% U.S. content,” beating out the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado.

But $320?
With Tesla stock trading at about $238 today, and up about 140% in the past 12 months, it’s difficult to imagine the stock reaching $320 in the near future.

How does Jonas arrive at such a bullish target? He predicts Tesla will achieve enough scale to capture slightly less than 1% of the global auto market by 2028.

While this prediction for market share seems reasonable, investors should keep in mind the enormous risk associated with investing in stocks with so much of the stock price based on extremely forward-looking assumptions.

The article Is Tesla Motors Inc. the Most Important Car Company in the World? originally appeared on Fool.com.

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Daniel Sparks owns shares of Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool recommends Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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