After Tesla’s price jump – Why the electric car maker polarizes investors and analysts

New York, Düsseldorf Tesla shareholders have always had to be able to withstand price fluctuations. After the setback at the end of the year, things are now looking up again: The e-car pioneer started the new year with a price jump of more than 13 percent – the biggest daily gain since March last year. So is Tesla stock back on track for growth?

The trigger for the price jump was the surprisingly high number of deliveries. In the entire year, the e-car manufacturer delivered 936,000 cars, almost twice as many as in the previous year. The increased production at the Tesla plant in China also helped. Credit Suisse estimates that around half of the cars were manufactured in Shanghai.

In the fourth quarter alone, the group delivered a total of 308,600 e-cars to its customers from October to December – significantly more than expected. “We thought 275,000 was the absolute maximum they could do,” said Dan Ives, general director of Wedbush Securities, on the fourth quarter shipments.