Tesla (TSLA) stock is benefiting from renewed optimism as Wall Street’s most vocal bulls look past current sales slumps and toward a 2026 dominated by artificial intelligence. On Friday, December 19, 2025, shares continued their steady recovery, trading at $487.67 after a price target boost from Truist analyst William Stein, who moved his target to $444.
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The primary catalyst, however, is a recent prediction from Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who maintains an Outperform rating and a street-high $600 price target. Ives has declared 2026 as a pivotal year for Tesla, predicting the company will successfully launch its Robotaxi service in over 30 cities within the next year, effectively starting the true autonomous era for Elon Musk.
Ives Predicts 30-City Robotaxi Blitz by 2026
Dan Ives is doubling down on his thesis that Tesla is more than just an automaker, viewing it as a premier AI play. In his latest 2026 predictions, Ives asserts that Tesla will scale its Robotaxi network aggressively, moving from small-scale testing in Austin to fully operational fleets in over 30 U.S. cities.
He believes that successfully scaling volume production of the Cybercab will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the company, one where software and services drive the majority of long-term value.
Driverless Testing in Austin Hits Key Milestone
Fueling the bull case is the fact that Tesla’s autonomous technology is already graduating from supervised to truly driverless testing. In Austin, Texas, the company has been operating a robo-taxi service since June with a safety monitor in the front passenger seat.
However, recent developments suggest a shift toward full autonomy. Elon Musk indicated that the company is currently testing cars without safety monitors, which is another reason that helped the stock hit a record intraday high earlier this week before it was caught in a broader AI sector selloff.
Tesla Aims to Scale Cybercab Production to Hit a Massive Valuation
Despite falling vehicle sales in traditional segments, investors are increasingly pricing Tesla based on its future in AI and robotics. Analysts believe these technologies will usher in a new era of earnings growth, which is a significant reason why the stock is up 20% year-to-date.
By targeting the massive electricity and computing demands of autonomous fleets, Tesla aims to solve the primary bottleneck of urban transport. If the company can successfully transition to volume production of the dedicated Cybercab, it could fundamentally change the financial profile of the firm.
Is Tesla Stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Tesla (TSLA) currently has a “Hold” consensus rating. Of the 32 analysts covering the stock, 11 recommend a Buy, 12 suggest a Hold, and nine advise a Sell.
The average 12-month TSLA price target is settled at $377.97, which actually implies a 21.8% downside from current prices.
