Piper Sandler says buy Tesla because it’s better insulated than other automakers from a trade war

Tesla stock may be relatively shielded from blowback as a result of President Donald Trump ‘s tariff policies and a potential trade war, according to Piper Sandler. The firm reiterated an overweight rating on the electric vehicle company in a Monday note, and stood by its $500 per share price target. Piper Sandler’s forecast implies more than 30% upside from Monday’s $383.68 closing price. Tesla stock has advanced more than 105% over the past year. A chunk of those gains came on the heels of Trump’s election in November, as Tesla was a beneficiary of the so-called Trump trade, given CEO Elon Musk ‘s close relationship to the president. Musk is the head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and serves as what the White House has dubbed a ” special government employee. ” TSLA 1Y mountain Tesla stock. However, equities remain jittery this week in the wake of Trump’s plans to put tariffs on goods from China, Mexico and Canada. For the moment, the looming duties are on pause for one month for both Canada and Mexico. However, without a resolution most U.S. automakers will find themselves in a tough spot given that a large tranche of auto production is done in both Canada and Mexico. But Tesla may a unicorn compared with its peers, according to analyst Alexander Potter, because the company assembles its most popular vehicles domestically. “We think TSLA is one of the most defensive stocks in our coverage. Tesla assembles five vehicles in the U.S., and all five rank among the most American-made cars,” Potter said. “Nobody is completely insulated, but in relative terms, Tesla is better-positioned than most.” To be sure, the analyst also trimmed his full-year vehicle deliveries forecast on Tesla to just under 2 million, which is about 58,000 units lower than its previous outlook. Potter attributed the cut to his full-year outlook to lower overall deliveries in Europe. Tesla does not report sales figures and instead uses deliveries as its preferred metric.