Tesla to revamp Model Y, crypto stocks pop: Trending tickers
Tesla (TSLA) is set to revamp its Model Y at its Shanghai factory, according to a report from Bloomberg. There are also a few Wall Street analysts weighing in on the stock on Wednesday too, with Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives saying the EV maker's deliveries appear to be "tracking slightly ahead" of targets for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley argues that Tesla is both an auto company and an AI company, though he expects 2024 to be a "challenging" one for the company's auto business.
Coinbase (COIN), Marathon Digital (MARA), and Microstrategy (MSTR) are trading higher on Wednesday, with the crypto industry expecting the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a spot bitcoin ETF in January.
Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton deep dive into these trending tickers.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript
JOSH LIPTON: Shares of Tesla riding high today on news that the EV maker is prepping a revamped Model Y to be built out of its Giga Shanghai plant. It's according to Bloomberg. The updated Model Y will have much more obvious exterior and interior changes than the most recent China Model Y update back in October, which added a new wheel design and ambient lighting.
So per Bloomberg, Julie, the mass production could start, according to their sources, as soon as mid 2024. Shanghai, by the way-- I didn't realize this now-- producing over half of Tesla's global deliveries. Obviously, Model Y very, very popular. One of the best selling EVs out there, especially popular in China by the way. We already know, though, of course, Tesla does have plenty of competition from names like BYD among others.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah. So there's the Model Y news. And let's be clear here, when we're talking about any single stock on the waning days of the year, yeah, sure, it's up, because of this story, right? But you get also a lot of people positioning in the last days of the year, buying things that they didn't have enough of and trying to catch up, et cetera, or lightening the load. So that's sort of the caveat as we talk about some of these movers.
But another couple of things caught our eye on Tesla. One is a note from our friend Dan Ives over at Wedbush who we're going to be talking to on the show later in the week. And the other comes to us from Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley. Now Ives in particular is zeroing in on the delivery targets for Tesla. And he says Tesla is tracking slightly ahead of the 480,000 delivery unit bogey for the fourth quarter. He's optimistic for how the numbers are going to look for the whole year.
And then Adam Jonas's note is really interesting reading as well. He dives into the debate over whether Tesla is just a car company, right? Is this just an auto company? Is it something more? He contends it is something more. It wouldn't have been priced how it is--
JOSH LIPTON: It's both he says.
JULIE HYMAN: Yes, exactly. And he talks about that the company's valuation here. He says $380 price target. The valuation of the core auto business, he says, is only $86 a share.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah.
JULIE HYMAN: I mean, he's long talked about this as have so many bulls on Tesla that it really is the AI, it's the autonomous driving. It's all the other stuff that makes it attractive as well.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah, it was interesting as part of his bullishness. And it was a great note. Was also just based on what the rivals are doing. Competition. He just sees them delaying their EV-related investments. And long term, he says, hey, that's runway for Tesla.
JULIE HYMAN: Right. So some interesting reading on the company today. Let's also talk about what's going on in the cryptocurrency space today. Because there, we see some trending tickers as well. More importantly, of course, there's also the ongoing battle between crypto-related companies, Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital Holdings, all higher today.
This after MicroStrategy announcing it bought $615 million worth of Bitcoin as expectations grow that US market regulators will soon approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. As we know, the company has been bullish. And Michael Saylor, who is the chairman, has been a crypto preacher, if you will--
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah.
JULIE HYMAN: --in some ways, a proselytizer for crypto.
And so if you look at the total holdings of Bitcoin on the balance sheet of MicroStrategy, it's over $189,000. That's almost 1% of all of the Bitcoin that are out there are held by this one company.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah, I mean some investors, listen, they don't want to hold Bitcoin directly. So they want to be kind of Bitcoin adjacent and they look to MicroStrategy. That stock now, by the way, up about more than 350% this year. Bitcoin, meanwhile, also has had a big run in 2023 after a rough 2022. But now, up about 150% this year.
One question has kind of been if-- Julie, if and when regulators really greenlight that spot Bitcoin ETF, what would that mean for MicroStrategy. Saylor has told reporters, not surprisingly, perhaps, he doesn't see it as a threat, because, listen, he says, stock is a leveraged bet with no fees. But, listen, depending on what the SEC does, maybe we'll soon find out.
JULIE HYMAN: Well, and we'll see what the fees are--
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah.
JULIE HYMAN: --on those ETFs, if they do get approved here. Marathon Digital, by the way, is up for the 11th straight session.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah--
JULIE HYMAN: It's up, I think, more than 1,000% this year. I mean, coming from a low base, it's a Bitcoin miner--
JOSH LIPTON: Longest winning streak on record.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, and--
JOSH LIPTON: It's only up about 800% this year.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah. I mean, Coinbase-- Coinbase is also up in the triple digits on the year. So it's been a good year for those crypto stocks after what was not--
JOSH LIPTON: After a rough 2022.
JULIE HYMAN: Yes, exactly.
