Tesla's US stocks rose nearly 5% on Monday to the highest level in two months, erasing all declines since the beginning of the year and turning positive. Media reports that Barclays analysts expect Tesla's third-quarter deliveries to exceed market expectations, coupled with the upcoming launch of Robotaxi next month, may continue to drive the stock price higher.

The electric car manufacturer's stock price rose nearly 5% on Monday's close, reaching $250. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index rose by 0.28%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.15%. Monday's gains allowed Tesla to turn positive for the year by 0.1%.

Tesla's stock closed at $248.48 at the end of 2023, but had dropped to $138.8 in mid-April, with a year-to-date decline of 44%. The stock then rebounded, exceeding $250 before the release of the second quarter financial report in July. However, due to lower-than-expected performance in the second quarter, the stock price fell by over 12% on July 24th.

Chinese market growth is expected to help exceed expectations for the third quarter deliveries.

Barclays analyst Dan Levy believes that based on global electric vehicle sales data from July and registration/production data from Europe and China in August, Tesla's third-quarter delivery volume is estimated to be around 0.47 million vehicles, significantly higher than the market's general expectation of 0.461 million vehicles.

Also, sales growth is key. Levy added that the sales growth in the third quarter is almost entirely driven by the Chinese market. Official data shows that Tesla's sales in China have been poor for most of this year, but there was a strong rebound in August.

While the European market showed weakness. Data shows that the total car sales in Europe dropped by about 8% year-on-year in July and August, with electric car sales falling by around 23%. Tesla's European sales last month declined by 43.2%. The situation in the USA market is much better, with electric car total sales in July and August increasing by about 14% year-on-year, according to Ward’s Automotive data.

Tesla will announce its third-quarter delivery performance on October 2nd. Levy also stated that strong delivery data will help maintain positive market sentiment until Tesla releases its autonomous driving rental car Robotaxi on October 10, which can at least avoid potential stock price impact from recent fundamental issues.

Robotaxi could be a key turning point.

Analysts believe that the release of Robotaxi will be a key turning point for Tesla, as the company is shifting from traditional car manufacturing to focusing on autonomous driving technology, partly relying on its Dojo AI supercomputer for support.

Musk is banking the company's future on its ability to solve autonomous driving issues. He also hopes to expand the promotion of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to Europe and China next year, despite facing a series of regulatory and technological delays in these regions.

Goldman Sachs analyst, Delaney, reiterated his 'neutral' rating on Tesla stock and a $230 target price on Monday, emphasizing the importance of the details Musk provided at the autonomous driving rental car event.

"Investors will focus on key areas such as the timeline for commercial operation of the Robotaxi (including technical readiness and operational/regulatory/logistical considerations) and business prospects (how Tesla's cost structure compares to competitors)."

He also mentioned that investors have long been looking forward to Musk launching a new low-cost Tesla model, which may be on the agenda at the next month's Robotaxi event:“Whether Tesla will provide more details or release a new low-cost model at the event on October 10 is also a common topic of discussion among us and investors.”

Editor/Lambor