Tesla Gets New Street-High Price Target, Stock Breaks $500

Tesla Inc. TSLA shares jumped more than 8% on Monday to top $500 for the first time, boosted by a huge price target hike from Oppenheimer.

The charge for Tesla also followed a positive remark on CNBC from Jim Cramer, who called the company's CEO Elon Musk, "the new face of an auto executive," and praised the electric vehicle.

The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 10 times over the last three months.

Chart courtesy of TradingView.

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch raised his target price on Tesla from $385 to $612, a nearly 60% increase, calling it a "must-own stock." The average price target among the 29 analysts covering the stock is $340.

Rusch said Tesla is "beginning to pose an existential threat to transportation companies that are unable or unwilling to innovate at a faster pace."

Cramer, in addition to praising the car, said Tesla numbers are set to go up because of an extension in the Chinese subsidy for electric cars.

Tesla's stock was trading up 8.6% to $519.16 per share at time of publication.

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