Goldman Sachs said Tesla shares may cool off after rising on Monday as hurdles remain to achieve fully autonomous driving technology in China. The electric car maker’s shares rose more than 15% on Monday, its best day so far in 2021, after it cleared a key regulatory hurdle to roll out advanced driver-assistance technology in China. But Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney has a price target of $175, which would imply a 9.8% drop from the stock’s last closing price. Delaney said specific improvements to the technology still need to be made to meet local government requirements before deployment. However, he said there was reason to think it could be developed faster than Goldman Sachs expected in a base case. “While we believe much of the engineering done by Tesla will be applicable globally, we believe the company needs to make local improvements to its products,” Delaney, who has a Neutral rating, wrote to clients. “Importantly, Tesla also needs to comply with government regulations on data access, localization and artificial intelligence, which may complicate technology sharing within and outside China.” Delaney also said that Tesla The speed with which driver assistance technology is updated should directly affect the extent to which its business in China changes. But he said that in its current state, the technology should not be considered a “fly-by-night product,” meaning Tesla’s work is done. Tesla shares opened down more than 3% on Tuesday. Despite Monday’s gains, Tesla shares are still down nearly 22% in 2024 as the company faces sales challenges.
