Why Dan Ives Raised His Tesla Bull Case Price Target To $1,800

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk is making headlines Monday after posting a poll on Twitter over the weekend in regard to selling Tesla shares.

What Happened: Musk took to Twitter to ask his followers whether or not they support him selling 10% of his Tesla stock position. 

"I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes," Musk said in a follow-up tweet. 

The results of the poll show that about 58% of those who voted are in favor of Musk selling Tesla shares. 

Musk may be considering selling Tesla shares because he is reportedly facing a tax bill of more than $15 billion on stock options.

Why It Matters: "At the end of the day, it continues to be a containable amount. I still view it as a blip on the radar," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Monday on CNBC's "The Exchange."

The focus should be on the continued adoption of electric vehicles, with Tesla owning a majority of the market, according to Ives. 

Tesla is a transformational growth story and is touting a sum-of-the-parts valuation, he said. 

"I think China alone is worth $300, potentially $400, to the story. And then you look at what's going to be a $5-trillion market that they own 80% of," Ives said.

"I think EV could go from 3% of automotive to potentially 10% in the next two to three years. That could be $25 to $30 of earnings power for Tesla."

This could be just the beginning of what Ives refers to as "the next phase of the Tesla bull thesis."

The Wedbush Securities analyst told CNBC he is raising his Tesla bull case price target to $1,800 per share.

See Also: Tesla Gets A New Street-High Price Target; 'EV Maker Now Looks More Scaled Up Than Most OEMs'

TSLA Price Action: Tesla has traded as high as $1,243.49 and as low as $396.03 over a 52-week period.

The stock was down 4.8% at $1,163.41 near the end of Monday's session. 

Photo: courtesy of Tesla.