Benzinga - by Adam Eckert, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Billionaire investor Ron Baron believes Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock has fallen far enough and is now getting ready to rip higher from current levels.
Why TSLA Is Down: Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Baron, a longtime Tesla bull, explained both why Tesla stock is down so much for the year and why he expects it to “go up huge” from here.
“The reason the stock is down is not because of the quarter,” Baron said.
Tesla shares are down approximately 34% year-to-date amid continued concerns about slowing demand for electric vehicles. The stock was down significantly more ahead of the company’s quarterly results this week, but shares popped after CEO Elon Musk introduced an accelerated timeline for the launch of new models and talked about the development of an affordable vehicle.
“People were concerned that he was going to abandon the idea of having a low cost car and go all in to robotaxis. That’s the reason the stock is down,” Baron said.
Tesla shares are now up about 10% for the week and Baron believes the stock is just getting started. He told CNBC that he hasn’t made much money owning Tesla over the last few years, but he expects that to change rather quickly.
“I look around all the time and see everyone getting rich … I haven’t made a lot of progress in the last three years, so therefore — I think it’s like a rubber band — I’m going to catch up again,” he said.
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Why TSLA Is Going To Surge: The reason Baron anticipates a swift rebound in Tesla shares is because of the direction the EV maker is heading. He specifically pointed to the low cost car initiative and the robotaxi plans as the main drivers of the impending stock surge he’s predicting.
Other companies are trying to develop robotaxis, but they are at a huge disadvantage to Tesla who has already sold 60 million cars and has millions of cars collecting data. The data is what is really valuable, Baron said.
Everyone seems to believe Tesla is still far away from full self-driving and robotaxis. Baron, however, says those developments are coming very soon.
He told CNBC that he had visited Tesla last week and got to see how the latest software works, adding that it’s now advancing rapidly with the help of AI after being stuck for a few years.
The stock will do something similar, Baron predicts. “Oh, it’s going to go up huge.”
When asked when he expects it to “go up huge,” he said, “Now. I mean now is the bottom.”
TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were up 2.52% at $166.22 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.
Photo: courtesy of Tesla.
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