It’s spring again and investors’ love is once again aimed at electric vehicle stocks in Monday’s pre-market trading. EV stocks are up, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) clocking a more-than-3.8% gain and Churchill Capital IV (NYSE:CCIV) seeing a rise of almost 2.5% as of 8:30 am Eastern.
Shares of EV special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Northern Genesis Acquisition (NYSE:NGA) are up almost 7% as it moves ahead with a high-profile merger with Lion Electric.
Famed fund manager Cathie Wood advised investors on Friday that her Ark Investment Management expects the TSLA stock price to increase five-fold by 2025, to $3,000 from the current level around $655 a share. That is significantly higher than any analyst who covers EV stocks, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.
TSLA Stock Shrugs Off China Restrictions
The gains in TSLA stock appear to be shrugging off concerns that restrictions on use of the firm’s vehicles could hurt sales in China. Last week, Reuters reported that the Chinese military has banned Tesla cars from entering its complexes, citing security concerns over cameras installed on the vehicles. The move was just latest sign of Beijing’s creeping scrutiny of the U.S. electric carmaker amid tensions with Washington, according to the report.
Tesla’s enigmatic CEO and founder Elon Musk is reported to have told a Chinese physicist that he would shut down Tesla if his care were used to spy in that country. “There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” Musk said in a virtual discussion with Xue Qikun, a Chinese quantum physicist, Reuters reported separately earlier today. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.”
Meanwhile, InvestorPlace contributor Mark Hake is out this morning with his take on Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV), arguing that XPEV stock is worth at least $57, or 48% above today’s price. Comparing Xpeng to peers Nio (NYSE:NIO) and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI), he writes that “the simple fact is that China will be the largest market for electric vehicles for the foreseeable future.” In his analysis, XPEV is undervalued for its potential.
On the date of publication, Robert Lakin did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
InvestorPlace contributor Robert Lakin is a veteran financial writer and editor, following fintech, agtech and property tech startups.
