Piper Sandler maintained its ‘Overweight’ rating on Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) on May 11 and reiterated a $500 price target for the electric vehicle maker.
According to the bank, the new price, which implies roughly 17% upside from the stock’s current price, reflects Tesla’s significantly broader business portfolio and evolving long-term growth strategy.
The report also outlined revenue and profit projections across 17 distinct Tesla product lines, which the firm estimates collectively support a valuation of approximately $400 per share, which also does not include any contribution from Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robotics initiative.
In fact, Piper Sandler argued that investors buying Tesla shares at this level would effectively gain exposure to the Optimus project “for free.”
Tesla valuation is justified, Piper Sandler claims
Analyst Alexander Potter said the revised model includes revenue and profit forecasts for several businesses that are often excluded from traditional Wall Street models. These include Tesla’s in-house insurance operations, Supercharging network, and a standalone robotaxi valuation.
Likewise, Potter noted that 2026 and 2027 forecasts remain below broader Wall Street consensus estimates, largely due to expected declines in deliveries tied to discontinued products and a reduced contribution from regulatory credits.
However, he said those traditional metrics are becoming less relevant as investors increasingly focus on full self-driving subscriber growth and robotaxi-related performance indicators.
On Optimus specifically, Potter said the humanoid robotics business could ultimately become more valuable than all of the company’s existing businesses combined, although he has not yet formally modeled those segments.
Is Tesla stock a buy?
Pipe Sandler’s price target is still below the Street-high $600 issued by Wedbush, but it is noticeably higher than the average 12-month forecast of $410.21, which implies a 2.78% downside according to TipRanks data.
Overall, a total of 30 analysts have, on average, presented Tesla as a ‘Moderate Buy’ over the past three months, with 13 ‘Buy,’ 12 ‘Hold,’ and five ‘Sell’ ratings.
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