Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares climbed 2.3% in pre-market trading on Friday, September 19, following two major Wall Street upgrades citing both near-term delivery strength and long-term growth.

Baird’s Ben Kallo was the most bullish, upgrading his stock rating to “Buy” and increasing the price target from $320 to no less than $548, the highest on Wall Street. 

Kallo’s forecast implies a 71% upside and frames the automaker as an emerging leader in artificial intelligence (AI), as it points to robotaxis and the Optimus humanoid robot as chief growth catalysts.

Goldman Sachs was also optimistic, with analyst Mark Delaney raising his price target to $395 from $300, albeit while maintaining a “Hold” rating. 

At the time of writing, Tesla shares are trading at $426.71, up 12.51% year-to-date and enjoying a market cap of $1.34 trillion. 

Elon Musk pushes his AI efforts

Commenting on Tesla’s push in artificial intelligence and robotaxi ambitions earlier this week, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives stated that at least $1 trillion in value is potentially up for grabs for Elon Musk’s company.

“We believe Tesla and Musk are heading into a very important chapter of their growth story as the AI Revolution takes hold and the Robotaxi opportunity is now a reality on the doorstep. We estimate the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth at least $1 trillion alone for Tesla,” wrote Ives on X.

The tightening in the AI approach has also become evident in Elon Musk’s alleged restructuring of xAI. Namely, the CEO reportedly sent a company email on Tuesday, September 16, demanding progress reports from employees, as reported by CNN. 

While xAI has issued no official statement, Musk has resorted to such tactics in the past. For instance, in 2024, he asked all X (formerly Twitter) employees to provide monthly and annual contribution summaries.

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