Elon Musk Is 'Heart And Lungs' Of Tesla, Says Wedbush's Dan Ives: 'This Is Just Starting'

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives on Friday commended Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk as “the heart and lungs of the company.”

What Happened: Contrary to many who believe that the CEO has hurt the EV company and its prospects with the acquisition of Twitter and his controversial comments on the platform, Ives is of the opinion that Musk is the biggest golden asset of the company who will lead the company into the next phase of its growth story in 2024.

"Tesla is where Apple was in 2008, 2009… this is just starting. What I view is the next phase of the Tesla growth story," Ives said in an interview with CNBC.

"At this point, from electric vehicles, they're doubling down where others are peeling back."

Ives has raised the price target on Tesla from $310 to $350 while reiterating an ‘Outperform’ rating. The analyst sees Tesla hitting the $1 trillion market cap in 2024 and also expects the EV company to launch a sub-$30,000 EV manufactured in Mexico by the end of next year.

Why It Matters: Tesla is targeting 1.8 million deliveries this year, putting pressure on the company to deliver about 476,000 vehicles before the year ends.

For the next year, the analyst estimates 25%-30% year-over-year unit-volume growth, pushing units in the 2.2 million to 2.3 million range. He does not rule out upside surprises, driven by Model Y sales in China and Europe.

"While overall EV demand has clearly moderated globally, we are still in the early days of this massive transformation with Tesla leading the way as we estimate by 2030 roughly 20% of autos will be EV based,” Ives said in a note.

Tesla ended Friday's session down 0.8% at $252.54, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Read More: Elon Musk Responds To Tesla User Who Called Full Self-Driving Feature ‘Awesome’: ‘Feels Like Magic…’

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