UPDATE: JP Morgan Raises PT on Tesla Motors to $44

JP Morgan has published a research report on Tesla Motors

and has raised the price target from $40 to $44 despite the company's 4Q miss. In the report, JP Morgan writes, "We nudge up our 2013 estimates partly on an upgrade to our EBIT margin assumption (6.4% to 7.8%), but management continues to reiterate its expectation for a low- to mid-teens operating margin in 2013 and mid-teens beyond that, suggesting 2013 EPS could be comfortably north of $2. Indeed, while full-year 2012 R&D guidance did not provide upside to our full-year 2012 estimates, the 2012 implied exit rate guidance (of around $40/qtr) does suggest 2013 R&D costs are going to be lower (part of the reason why we raise 2013). In a nutshell, a weaker-than-expected Q4 largely on a mixture of volume and development services margins was partly offset by some initial clues on R&D leverage beyond 2012, which, when coupled with guidance for ~25% gross margin, does increasingly support management's low- to mid-teens margin guidance longer term." JP Morgan maintains its Overweight rating on Tesla Motors, which is currently trading up $0.78 from yesterday's $33.60 closing price.