In his view, the share ought to trade closer to $620 with Tesla deserving of a $2 trillion market cap—slightly more than double what its currently worth. Nor does Ives tire of explaining that Tesla’s single most important asset driving this projected growth over the next 12 to 18 months is its transformative CEO, Elon Musk.
The company did not respond to a request from Fortune for comment.
Top on the agenda would likely be a new pay package for a CEO who is goading the White House with continued attacks against Trump.
Shut up, Dan
But Ives plan to create a special oversight committee and link pay to guardrails around his political activism also met with criticism from other Musk supporters. They argue you a CEO like Musk does not clock in like a worker drone.
The Wedbush analyst combines the occasional stern word with positive reinforcement, rewarding the CEO with effusive praise whenever he reacts to external pressure.
“Leaders lead in times of trouble and crisis…and last night Elon Musk took a major and much needed step forward,” he wrote. “We applaud Musk for ‘reading the room’ and showing important hand holding at this key time for employees and investors.”
But this week Ives conveyed his clients’ growing frustration over the distraction posed by a potential America Party, calling for the board to form a special oversight committee—even though a core part of any board’s job is providing oversight.
“We believe this is a tipping point in the Tesla story,” Ives said on Tuesday. “We urge the board to act now.”
