Morgan Stanley analyst and Tesla Inc TSLA bull Adam Jonas sees the theme of humanoid robotics accelerating in the months, even years, going forward. The EV giant is also making its own humanoid robot called Optimus.
Analyst Take: There has been increased attention to the field of robotics recently, Jonas said, referring to reports of Figure AI raising about $675 million in a funding round from Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAl. The Chinese government has also been stepping up support for the development of humanoid robot technologies.
Jonas wrote, “Investors may have noticed a marked increase in announcements, technical demonstration and capital formation in the area of humanoid robots including a $675mm fund-raising by Figure Al including investments by Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAl. Our industry discussions suggest Tesla CEO Elon Musk is spending increasing amounts of time focused on Optimus. The Chinese government is stepping up support for the development and commercialization of humanoid robot technologies. What has changed to make this seemingly novel topic so consequential?”
The surge in interest in humanoid robotics is due to the AI revolution and the slowdown in the development of autonomous vehicles, said Jonas.
The technologies behind developing large language models and supporting computing power can be used to enhance AGI in robots, the analyst noted. Further, there are now 1.7 million Americans missing from the workforce as compared to before the pandemic, thereby creating a deficit that could be filled with these bots.
Further, the excitement around autonomous cars is waning, Jonas said, as demonstrated by Apple canceling its decision to make its own electric, autonomous vehicle. This leaves a significant set of people who previously worked with autonomous cars to work on the next closest discipline such as humanoid robots, he said.
Analyst Rating: Jonas has an “overweight” rating on Tesla with a price target of $320. This valuation, however, does not presently include Optimus.
Updates On Optimus: In February, Tesla shared a video of the robot walking around the factory floor. "Optimus is more stable and more confident overall – even during turns. We also added a slight torso & arms sway," Milan Kovac from Tesla’s Optimus Engineering team then said.
During Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings call in January, CEO Elon Musk expressed optimism about delivering some units of its Optimus humanoid robot next year.
“I think we’ve got a good chance of shipping some number of Optimus units next year,” Musk said. However, the CEO also warned that there is a lot of uncertainty and it is impossible to make a precise prediction. “I do think it has the potential to be the most valuable product of any kind ever by far,” he added.
Tesla introduced its humanoid bot in 2021 with the initial goal of handling unsafe, repetitive, or tedious tasks.
Price Action: Tesla shares closed 0.66% higher on Friday at $163.57. However, the stock has dipped 34.16% year-to-date, according to Benzinga Pro.
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