Tesla share price: where next following $1,000 milestone?

The US$1,000 memo in focus

The Tesla (TSLA) share price hit yet another milestone last week, breaching the US$1,000 per share mark for the first time. This bullish price action comes after a memo from Tesla's divisive Chief Executive, Elon Musk was leaked, in which Mr Musk claimed the company was set to ramp up production of its much-hyped Tesla Semi-truck.

The memo in full, obtained by TechCrunch, read as follows:

‘It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production. It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design,' said Mr Musk.

Unveiled in 2017, with first deliveries set to take place in 2021, the Tesla Semi is an ambitious all-electric 'class 8' semi-truck.

Speaking to the production side of things, in the memo Mr Musk goes on to note that:

‘Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most of the other work probably occurring in other states. Jerome and I are very excited to work with you to bring this amazing product to market!’

The hype off the back of that news has moderated only slightly, with the Tesla share price last trading at a still elevated US$982 per share – or over 300% from where it traded a year ago.

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Tesla share price: bulls VS bears

Though Tesla continues to trade around the upper-band of its 52-week range, some remain sceptical of the developments driving the stock's recent price action. Speaking to Bloomberg, Jeff Osborne, an analyst from Cowen & Co, last week said:

‘Given some of the other news flow in the past month to two months on the Class 8 truck market, I think he’s probably trying to keep Tesla in the marketing cycle just for all the mega trends going on in trucking.’

Mr Osborne has a Sell rating on Tesla.

On the bullish side of things however, one investment firm stands above the rest in terms of optimism: ARK Invest. Renowned for a staggering US$7,000 price target on the company; ARK’s analysis and price target(s) for that matter, have proven divisive amongst the financial community.

In saying that, ARK has somewhat moderated their view on the stock in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, with Cathie Wood, Founder and CEO of ARK, recently saying in an interview with MarketWatch, that:

‘Over a five-year horizon, we took the base price target to $6,800 but there is something else that we think could take it much higher. It will probably launch its own ride hailing service, with human drivers, sometime this year.’

Should ARK’s analysis be proven correct, that base case implies significant potential upside from current price levels.

Glencore deal in focus

Elsewhere, it was recently revealed that Tesla had secured a deal to purchase cobalt from mining giant Glencore to supply its Shanghai and yet-to-be-finished Berlin Gigafactory. Here, the Financial Times (FT) reported that:

‘Tesla will buy cobalt from Glencore for use in two new car plants in a deepening of ties between Elon Musk’s electric car maker and the Swiss mining group.’

Looking forward, Tesla's second quarter earnings report is set to be released on 22 July.

How to trade Tesla – long and short

What do you think: are you bullish or bearish on Tesla’s prospects? Trade accordingly. For example, you can trade Tesla shares and other US growth stocks – both LONG and SHORT – through IG’s world-class trading platform now.

To buy (long) or sell (short) Tesla with CFDs, follow these simple steps:

1. Create an IG Trading Account or log in to your existing account
2. Enter ‘Tesla’ in the search bar and select it
3. Choose your position size
4. Click on ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
5. Confirm the trade