Why Mobileye Investors Could Be The Biggest Winners In The Autonomous Auto Race

The race to create the world’s first fully autonomous vehicle is still in its infancy, with Ford Motor Company F, General Motors Company GM, Tesla Motors Inc TSLA and even Alphabet Inc GOOGL in on the competition. There seems to be little question that automation is the next step in the auto industry. However, at this point it’s too early to pick a winner.

There’s an old saying that the people that get the richest during gold rushes are the ones selling shovels. In the world of automated vehicles, vision-based driving systems technology company Mobileye NV MBLY is the shovel salesman.

Mobileye recently announced a new partnership with Delphi Automotive PLC DLPH to develop a fully autonomous driving system. Baird analyst David Leiker, who has Outperform ratings on both stocks, says that the majority of auto manufacturers would prefer this type of “turnkey” universal solution rather than developing their own technology.

Related Link: 6 Degrees Of Self-Driving Separation

In addition to the Delphi partnership, Mobileye also recently announced a partnership with BAYER MOTOREN WERK ADR EACH REPR 0.33333 SHS BMWYY to develop a driverless BMW model by 2021.

Delphi has also partnered with Tesla in the past, although that partnership came to an end earlier this year.

Baird isn’t the only Wall Street firm to recognize MBLY’s unique positioning in the auto industry. CLSA called the Delphi partnership a “win-win.”

In July, Barclays raised its price target for Mobileye from $50 to $60 and maintained an Overweight rating.

JPMorgan recently said Mobileye has “emerged as a clear leader in the field of computer vision.”

Dougherty & Company also upgraded Mobileye to Buy last month.