Tesla expected to announce ‘gigafactory’ details this week
By Claudia Assis
Tesla Motors Inc. is expected to make a big announcement regarding its”gigafactory” battery plant this week. The announcement should include important details like location, cost and potential partners, analysts said.
Shares of the electric car maker started off the week by rising to a record Monday.
Tesla /quotes/zigman/118681/delayed /quotes/nls/tsla TSLA -0.30% shares rose 3.6% to $217.17, hitting an intraday high of $218.36 earlier Monday. (Update: Tesla shares ended at a record close of $217.65).
Shares have gained 79% in the past three months, and 500% in the past 12 months.
Analysts at Baird & Co. said that the new details on the “really big” (in the words of CEO Elon Musk) North American battery factory will push shares higher, but a few details are likely to water down the announcement.
“Due to proprietary reasons … and the early stage of the project, we are uncertain of how much information (Tesla) will reveal in its announcement,” the analysts said.
Tesla is rumored to be partnering with Japan’s Panasonic Corp. or South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The location of the factory is also yet to be determined, although analysts have bet on New Mexico or Arizona.
“One thing is sure: Tesla hopes to reinvent battery production like it already did to other parts of the auto supply chain, the Baird analysts, led by Ben Kallo, said.
Moreover, Wall Street is likely overestimating the amount of money Tesla would need to build the factory. Estimates have hovered at between $7 billion to $10 billion, but the amount could be as low as $5 billion through the partnership, potential incentives, and standardization, the analysts said.
选择“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”
选择“don't run on pages on this domain”
