Why This Analyst Remains 'Steadfastly Bullish' On Tesla Story Following Q1 Deliveries

Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA first-quarter deliveries came in slightly shy of estimates, but this Tesla bull isn't too worried about the miss.

The Tesla Analyst: Daniel Ives maintained an Outperform rating and $1,400 price target for Tesla shares.

The Tesla Thesis: Tesla's deliveries of about 310,000 vehicles as opposed to the consensus of 312,000 would be characterized as "better than feared," Ives said in a note reviewing the data.

The tally, however, was ahead of lowered Street whisper numbers in light of "recent COVID shutdowns in China" and the logistical inconvenience of delivering Giga Shanghai-made vehicles to Europe, the Wedbush analyst said.

"We believe roughly 20k-25k units were pushed out of 1Q into 2Q due to the logistical and factory issues which makes this underlying demand number still look strong with a robust trajectory for the rest of 2022," Ives said.

The analyst sees the delivery and production numbers as a positive step, especially when compared to other automakers such as General Motors Corporation GM and Ford Motor Company F as well as Chinese EV players such as Nio, Inc. NIO, Xpeng, Inc. XPEV and others.

The Tesla growth story, according to the analyst, will likely take hold, with the Berlin and Austin factories now greenlighted.

The headline miss may have to do with supply/logistics issues for Tesla in the last week of the quarter, the analyst said.

"We remain steadfastly bullish on the Tesla story and believe when factoring in all the manufacturing headwind dynamics, this was a modestly bullish print," Wedbush said.

Tesla Price Action: Tesla shares closed Friday's session 0.65% higher at $1,084.59.

Photo: Courtesy of tesla.com

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