Goldman Sachs Isn't The Only Firm Profiting From Tesla Analysts' High Expectations

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS raised a lot of eyebrows last week when the company was announced as one of the two leads in a Tesla Motors Inc TSLA $2 billion stock offering just hours after the firm upgraded Tesla’s stock from Neutral to Buy.

Legally, research analysts and investment bankers working at the same firm cannot conspire to influence share prices, and there is no evidence that Goldman violated the law. However, the questionable timing of the upgrade still have many crying foul.

According to Bloomberg’s David Welch, Goldman isn’t the only firm to make lofty projections for Tesla’s stock and then profit from those higher prices. Morgan Stanley MS analyst Adam Jonas has been one of the most aggressive Tesla bulls on Wall Street and has a history of good timing.

Related Link: The Timing Of Goldman's Tesla Upgrade Is Proof Bankers Don't Influence Research

During a one-year period from 2013 to 2014 in which Morgan Stanley Investment Management sold nearly two million shares of Tesla’s stock, Jonas’ target price ballooned from $47 to $320. In February 2014, Jonas doubled his target price for Tesla from $160 to $320. Three days later, Tesla priced a $2 billion debt offering using Morgan Stanley as one of the underwriters.

Jonas’ current price target for Tesla is the highest among all Wall Street banks at $333. Goldman’s Patrick Archambault, the analyst responsible for the most recent well-timed Tesla upgrade, has a price target of $250. Bloomberg reports that neither analyst ranks among the five most accurate forecasters of Tesla’s stock.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.

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