Wall Road intently watched Tesla ‘s robotaxi launch in Texas over the weekend. The electrical car maker invited a choose group to experience the autonomous automobiles round Austin on Sunday. The occasion is taken into account a significant milestone as some have pointed to driverless automobiles as the way forward for the enterprise, which they in flip say makes the inventory worthy of lofty valuations. Tesla shares jumped practically 10% in Monday morning buying and selling as traders reacted to the occasion. The inventory has now surged round 37% within the second quarter, although shares have nonetheless fallen greater than 12% in 2025. TSLA YTD mountain Tesla in 2025 To make sure, analyst outlooks on the occasion and what it means for the inventory differ broadly. Whereas Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who rode within the robotaxis over the weekend, stated it “exceeded our expectations,” Guggenheim’s Ronald Jewsikow referred to as the occasion “child steps.” However that is not essentially stunning given how a lot Wall Road differs on the inventory itself. Of the greater than 50 analysts surveyed by LSEG, worth targets for the corporate’s shares vary from between simply $19.05 and $500. This is what every of the companies that tracked Sunday’s occasion considered it and its influence to their investing thesis: Wedbush Ives recounted his expertise taking two robotaxi rides in Austin. He discovered the automobiles have been capable of facilitate pickups properly and navigate robust terrain. “Going into it, we anticipated to be impressed however strolling away from it, all there’s to say is that that is the longer term. We took two roughly 15 minute rides round Austin and the important thing takeaways are that it was a snug, secure, and personalised expertise. The experience itself was fully easy, and it was indistinguishable that the automotive was driverless as there was by no means a second within the car the place we felt as if it did one thing irrational.” Guggenheim Guggenheim’s Jewsikow stated the weekend expertise wasn’t enormous, nevertheless it ought to fulfill traders within the near-term. He stated the growth fee for robotaxis might be what traders ought to watch. “In the end, the newborn steps taken on Sunday in Austin have been an excellent basis, and reveals the work the TSLA AI group has put into this launch, however what occurs after the influencers depart might be much more necessary. By the top of this yr, we imagine the tempo of growth must be nearer to a dash to justify lofty robotaxi expectations embedded in TSLA valuation. Whereas we are able to quibble in regards to the deserves of the occasion, it occurred with out a main subject, and that’s possible ok for the inventory near-term, in our view. Service Space.” TD Cowen TD Cowen analyst Itay Michaeli stated Sunday’s launch was a optimistic for the corporate. Moreover, Michaeli stated he continues to be bullish on Tesla’s autonomous car story, although he stated he needed to keep away from making broader conclusions too early. “Our preliminary take from observing rider suggestions on Sunday is as follows: (a) The preliminary Austin working space (ODD) was bigger than we’d’ve thought, though Tesla’s preliminary ODD was smaller than Waymo’s; (b) We have been impressed by Tesla’s UI, which appeared well-developed for an early stage rideshare deployment; (c) We have been significantly impressed by the pickup/drop-off accuracy (i.e. navigating inside a car parking zone to a vacation spot), which could be difficult for RoboTaxis significantly through the early launch part; (d) No reported security or main car efficiency points as we’re conscious. For a primary day, fairly spectacular.” Barclays Barclays analyst Dan Levy stated the robotaxi story ought to stay central for traders and the inventory. Nevertheless, he warned towards merchants getting forward of themselves. “Zooming out, we imagine the launch is a matter of perspective. Bulls will level to yesterday’s occasion as the beginning of a brand new period for Tesla, one which bulls and believers have been awaiting for a very long time. They see the tech working properly with a transparent path of scaling, and level to Tesla now producing income on driverless rides as a crucial milestone. Bulls will level to yesterday’s occasion as only the start of an thrilling path of progress. We respect this view, and imagine this additional reinforces that Robotaxi/AV stays entrance and middle for the inventory … with fundamentals seemingly pushed to the aspect for now (albeit we imagine fundamentals do not matter till they matter). However we imagine the significantly better query forward is on the trail of scaling, which we imagine might be lengthy, and we warning towards overoptimism.” UBS UBS’ Joseph Spak stated the robotaxi launch may help maintain curiosity within the inventory regardless of preliminary service being small scale. Whereas the analyst has a promote ranking, he lifted his worth goal by $25 to $215 in a Monday be aware to shoppers. Nonetheless, that suggests draw back of greater than 33% from Friday’s shut. “TSLA’s preliminary robotaxi service could begin small/restricted together with: 10-20 autos, geofenced, staff/invite solely, security displays, tele-operations. However, this is not completely different from how different autonomous experience hailing providers began. We imagine it is prudent for Tesla to start operations this manner earlier than scaling. Regardless of restricted preliminary operations, beginning the service may help Tesla management the robotaxi narrative whereas additionally drawing extra investor curiosity and focus to this chance, which might buoy the inventory.”