Tesla’s biggest fan Cathie Wood predicts the stock to soar 10-fold as robotaxis take off

Tesla’s move into the more profitable autonomous taxi platform business will be a catalyst for a roughly 10-fold increase in its share price, according to Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood.

Describing the autonomous taxi ecosystem as an “US$8 trillion to US$10 trillion global revenue opportunity,” Wood sees platform providers such as Tesla taking as much as half of that. Investors are shifting away from valuing Tesla purely as an electric vehicle maker, pricing in some of the autonomous taxi potential, she told Bloomberg Television’s David Ingles and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Rebecca Sin in the Tiger Money podcast.

“Autonomous taxi platforms are the biggest AI project evolving today,” she said, adding Ark has primarily based its Tesla valuation on its autonomous driving potential. “If we are right, the stock has miles to go.”

Wood has been bullish on Tesla for a long time, making it a top holding in her Ark Innovation ETF. The fund has lost nearly 9 per cent this year, while assets slumped about a third, partly due to redemptions. That compares with an 18 per cent gain in the S&P 500 Index. Wood is known for making outsize predictions, including her call that bitcoin would reach as much as US$1.48 million by 2030.