Tesla Stock Rose. Why Affordable ‘Standard’ Models Aren’t Exciting Wall Street.

Tesla introduced new “Standard” Model 3 and Model Y versions, priced around $37,000 and $40,000, to boost sales.

Tesla’s stock was near breakeven early Wednesday after a 4% drop on Tuesday, following the new vehicle unveiling.

Stock rallied late on Wednesday after the company’s unveiling of two new “Standard” lower price models on Tuesday. Wall Street, curiously, doesn’t have much to say about the new vehicles, yet.

Shares of the electric-vehicle maker traded as low as $425.23 before rising to close at $438.69, up 1.3%. The S&P 500

The move came after Tesla’s stock dropped more than 4% on Tuesday, following the announcement of new “Standard” lower-priced versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, starting at about $37,000 and $40,000, respectively. The new vehicles have fewer features and a shorter per-charge range than most of the “Premium” versions of the cars. They are designed to give sales a boost by making Teslas more accessible to a broader range of car buyers.

The stock drop isn’t a sign that investors were all that disappointed. Shares rose more than 5% on Monday after Tesla teased the reveal in posts on X. The two-day move left Tesla’s stock up about $3 for the week.

Wall Street hasn’t had much to say about the new vehicles yet. That is probably because a lower-priced version of the Model Y was widely expected to arrive in the fourth quarter.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote he was “relatively disappointed” with the vehicles. They aren’t all that different from the existing models. Still, they are a step toward higher sales.

He rates shares Buy and has a $600 price target for the stock. Ives remains focused on Tesla’s artificial-intelligence opportunities. The “AI valuation will start to get unlocked” for Tesla as it expands its self-driving and robotics businesses.

Tesla launched a robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, and is developing AI-trained humanoid robots.

Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro raised his price target on Buy-rated Tesla stock to $483 from $440 a share on Tuesday. Robo-taxi and self-driving advancements were the main reasons for the change.

For now, Wall Street isn’t all that focused on selling EVs. AI is what matters to the Street.

Through Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was up about 9% year to date and up 79% over the past 12 months.