--- title: "Wall Street has mixed views on Tesla's prospects: bulls see a high of $600, while bears warn of cash flow risks" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/283844907.md" description: "Wall Street has mixed views on Tesla's prospects, with analysts showing significant divergence in their outlook for its future development. Ross Capital maintains a \"Buy\" rating with a target price of $505; Wedbush Securities is bullish, raising the target to $600, believing Tesla's transformation in the field of artificial intelligence is clear; Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, takes a wait-and-see approach with a target price of $415, pointing out the slow commercialization process of key projects. Analysts generally focus on Tesla's capital expenditure and cash flow risks" datetime: "2026-04-23T13:37:13.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/283844907.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283844907.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/283844907.md) --- # Wall Street has mixed views on Tesla's prospects: bulls see a high of $600, while bears warn of cash flow risks According to the Zhitong Finance APP, on Thursday, Tesla (TSLA.US) shares fell as investors focused on assessing its first-quarter financial report and the latest annual plan—where the core adjustment is a significant increase in the capital expenditure target to $25 billion. Analysts have differing views on Tesla's future development prospects. Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital, pointed out that Tesla's first-quarter performance was strong, thanks to positive demand fundamentals, average selling price management, and moderate gains from one-time projects. He wrote, "In the short term, we believe that SpaceX's upcoming IPO will dominate discussions about Tesla, with direct and indirect impacts covering many aspects, from how many Cybertrucks SpaceX might receive to the possibility of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX." The firm maintains a "Buy" rating on Tesla with a target price of $505. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, reiterated his "Outperform" rating on Tesla with a target price of $600. Summarizing his bullish view, he stated, "Tesla is transforming into a leader in the physical artificial intelligence space... The path is clear, but it requires more capital expenditure." Andrew Percoco, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, believes that Tesla's first-quarter financial report lays the foundation for future development. "Tesla is heavily investing to realize its long-term vision of autonomous driving and physical artificial intelligence, and we remain confident in this. However, due to the slower-than-expected commercialization of key physical AI projects (autonomous taxis and Optimus), we believe there is limited upside for Tesla's stock price in the short term," he added. Morgan Stanley maintains a "Hold" rating on Tesla with a target price of $415. Matt Britzman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, emphasized that the significant increase in capital expenditure means that free cash flow will likely disappear for at least the next couple of years—as Tesla enters a multi-year construction phase. Britzman stated that the current valuation still heavily relies on Musk's ability to launch breakthrough products and explore new markets. Although Tesla is making progress, the comments from this conference call are seen as another example of shifting targets. Colin Langen, an analyst at Wells Fargo, believes this report contains a lot of bad news. "Capital expenditures have now risen to $25 billion, putting pressure on free cash flow. Operating expenses increased by $1 billion year-on-year, and spending on AI and new products is expected to continue growing, but both may struggle to deliver substantial returns in the short term," he warned. Additionally, Langen emphasized that Musk expects the AI5 chip to be unprofitable in the short term, the ramp-up of production for Optimus and Semi is also expected to be slow, and Hardware 3 vehicles need modifications to achieve full self-driving (FSD) capabilities, which requires the construction of micro-factories. Wells Fargo has a "Underweight" rating on Tesla with a target price of $125. Jack Bauman, an analyst at Seeking Alpha, wrote that investors were right to cheer Tesla's earnings per share and revenue exceeding expectations initially—despite delivery volumes and sales falling short of expectations. He pointed out that if a company can achieve better-than-expected profits despite lower-than-expected sales, it indicates that improvements are happening internally, which is crucial "But I think it's correct for investors to give back all their gains after learning that Tesla will spend $25 billion on robot facilities and data center construction—this could lead to negative free cash flow for Tesla by the end of the year," he added. Baumann emphasized that the real uncertainty lies in the return timeline of this new capital expenditure. "Unlike large hyperscale data center companies, Tesla does not have enough free cash flow to cover such expenditures. 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