Tesla Motors Shares Surge Following `Bullish' Report From JPMorgan Analys

Tesla Motors Inc., the U.S. electric-carmaker backed by Toyota Motor Corp. and Daimler AG, rose 19 percent in Nasdaq trading after a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst said he was “bullish” on the company’s outlook.

Tesla climbed $4.73 to $29.36 at 4:30 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, the highest closing price since the shares began trading on June 29. Tesla has risen 73 percent since its June 28 initial public offering.

“We are bullish on TSLA as we believe it is at the vanguard of improving battery costs/durability,” Himanshu Patel, an analyst with JPMorgan, wrote in a report today.

The company, based in Palo Alto, California, should be able to produce “a well-received Tesla-badged product lineup in this decade, but also what seems like an increasingly viable powertrain supply revenue stream,” Patel said in the report, reiterating his “overweight” recommendation on the shares.

The company yesterday reported a third-quarter net loss of $34.9 million as sales declined and it spent money to develop a battery-powered sedan.

Along with Toyota and Daimler, which have each invested about $50 million in Tesla, Japan’s Panasonic Corp. last week bought a $30 million stake.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kae Inoue in Tokyo at kinoue@bloomberg.net.