So we had heard previously that electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) was pulling back on its car line, shutting down production of the Model S and Model X Tesla vehicles. Now, this report is official, as it is currently impossible to order a new Model S or Model X via the Tesla website. And investors are oddly pleased about this, judging by the 2.5% gain in Tesla shares seen in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Forget margin or options. Here's how the pros trade TSLAThe cars in question have been part of Tesla’s product line for a decade, reports note, and by some measures represented the “…benchmark for modern EV.” There are still some models available, though, for anyone who wants to get in on the Model S or Model X experience before they are gone. Inventory at one point suggested there were 15 Model S units and 24 Model X units available, one report noted.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk noted, “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge, because we’re really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.” Given earlier reports that suggested the Fremont factory would be moving to produce Optimus robots instead, Musk’s assertion of a “future…based on autonomy” seems to be dead-on.
FSD 14.3 Going Live This Week
As for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (supervised) platform, reports note that version 14.3 will be going live this week. It will represent the “last piece of the puzzle,” according to Elon Musk, and will be the version that makes your car “…feel like it is sentient.”
FSD 14.3 is currently in “Tesla employee beta,” reports noted, but will likely hit wide release by the end of the week. Given that this is a holiday week, it may not have been the best move, strategically. But if it works, it works. The 14.3 update is said to bring a “…significantly larger neural network…” that with it adds better reasoning and learning capacity. Hardware 4 owners will get the update first. Hardware 3 users, though, will have to wait for the “lite” version, projected for release around the middle of the year.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 13 Buys, 11 Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 31.47% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $395.31 per share implies 3.5% upside potential.
