Tesla shifting gears toward AI value drivers, says Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch says that with Tesla announcing planned price increases across geographies and reports surfacing about moderated production in China, the firm believes the company is working to deliver as many vehicles as possible before quarter end and managing supply/demand balance as it shifts focus toward maximizing value capture per vehicle away from unit growth. Further, with Tesla signaling an acceleration in FSD development after major investments in compute power and a wider roll-out of V12 FSD, allowing for accelerated system training with real world data, Oppenheimer believes the company is setting the stage for increased software driven revenue growth as it prepares to launch the Model 2. As the firm trims estimates, it thinks the Q1 report could lead to a final near-term cut on Tesla’s estimates. Oppenheimer has a Perform rating on the shares.