Tesla Stock Cracks $470. Driverless Robo-Taxis Are Being Tested on the Road.

Dec 15, 2025 07:24:00 -0500 by Al Root | #EVs

Production of Tesla’s self-driving electric Cybercab is expected to start in 2026. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

Tesla’s stock increased 14% this year and 4% in midday trading, reaching $477.12, valuing the company at $1.5 trillion.
Elon Musk’s tweet about testing robo-taxis without safety monitors contributed to the stock’s midday rise.
Only 40% of analysts rate Tesla stock as Buy, below the S&P 500 average of 55%, with an average price target of $400.

Tesla has been busy in 2025, and 2026 will be no different. It’s another make-or-break year for the electric-vehicle maker, and perhaps for some of the analysts who cover its stock.

The company, led Elon Musk, is on track to sell fewer cars in 2025 than it did in 2024, marking the second consecutive year of decline. Still, coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was up 14% this year.

Shares gained another 3.6%, closing at $475.31 on Monday, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. Monday’s price values Tesla at about $1.5 trillion, or about twice as much as 12 of the largest global auto makers combined.

Tesla stock moved higher after Musk tweeted on Sunday that Tesla was testing robo-taxis without safety monitors in the front seat. Tesla launched an artificial-intelligence trained robo-taxi service in June in Austin, Texas, for which safety monitors still sit in the front passenger seat. In October, Musk said he hoped to have the monitors out by year’s end.

Robo-taxis and AI are why 2026 is pivotal for Tesla.

“[It’s] a monster year ahead for Tesla and Musk as the autonomous and robotics chapter begins,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a Monday report. “The Street is at a crossroads with Tesla as the bulls and bears debate how quickly the Robotaxi era will take shape over the coming year.”

He expects Tesla to rapidly expand its robo-taxis across the U.S., aided by a federal framework for autonomous driving regulations, with production of Tesla’s Cybercab, a purpose-built robo-taxi, in the spring. “In a nutshell, we believe Tesla is taking major steps in advancing its AI Revolution path with autonomous [cars] and robotics front and center,” added the analyst.

Ives rates Tesla stock Buy. He’s arguably the biggest Tesla bull on the Street, with a top $600 share price target, which values Tesla for roughly $2 trillion.

Ives’ peers don’t all agree on his vision of the future. Just 40% of analysts covering Tesla stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%.

The average analyst price target for Tesla stock is about $400 a share, below where shares are trading, and targets range from $120 to $600 a share. The $480 gap is more than 100% of Tesla’s current stock price. The bull-bear ratio for Alphabet stock is closer to 40%.

Some disagreement among Wall Street analysts regarding Tesla isn’t new. Answers to key questions, such as how fast Tesla can expand its robo-taxi business, should come in the new year. The answers might not change the minds of either the bulls or the bears, though.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com