Tesla price target raised to $500 from $400 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler raised the firm’s price target on Tesla (TSLA) to $500 from $400 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares following a trip to China. After meeting with Chinese EV makers, the firm says it can see why Elon Musk respects these “fast followers” so much. Indeed, vertically integrated Chinese OEMs may be Tesla’s number 1 competitive threat. But when it comes to “real world” A.I., these companies look to Tesla for guidance – not the other way around, Piper argues. In the words of one company, “without Tesla going from 0 to 1, we can’t go from 1 to 100.” Bottom line, the firm says Tesla remains its top idea for investing in autonomous vehicles and robotics.