Analysts reboot Tesla stock price target on innovation roadmap

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It was quite an evening.

Tesla  (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk recently spoke at a town hall in Lancaster, Pa., in support of former president Donald Trump's second bid for the White House.

Related: Tesla stock leaps on solid Q3 earnings, delivery growth outlook

Over the course of 2 1/2 hours, the world's richest man bounced around such topics as space exploration, the Cybertruck, mail-in ballots, and immigration. He dismissed the idea that the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters was “some sort of violent insurrection, which is simply not the case," according to the Associated Press.

“The future of civilization could depend on creating a self-sustaining city on Mars," he said, noting that "we will be illegal aliens on Mars."

Meanwhile, back on earth, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, blasted the tech billionaire’s controversial $1 million giveaway to registered voters as an “illegal lottery scheme” and filed a lawsuit against Musk and his pro-Trump group, CNN reported.

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The U.S. Justice Department has also warned Musk’s super PAC that his giveaway might violate federal laws that criminalize offering cash for voter registration.

Musk is also running a car company and earlier this month, he unveiled Telsa's first robotaxi prototype. Unfortunately, investors were not impressed with the lack of details and shares tumbled the following day.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk <p>FREDERIC J&period; BROWN&sol;Getty Images</p>
Tesla CEO Elon Musk

FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty Images

Musk: 'Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world'

More recently, the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Oct. 23, with profit margins surging nearly two percentage points as the cost of producing its signature EVs fell to a record low and global pricing stabilized.

"We think what we're doing is the right approach," Musk told analysts during the company's earnings call. "And if we execute on our objectives, I think we will, my prediction is Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world and probably by a long shot."

Related: Tesla analysts update views after Q3 deliveries

And Musk repeated his claim that "the future is autonomous."

"I've actually said this many years ago," he said, "but that in my strong belief and I believe that is panning out to be true, very obvious retrospect is that the future is autonomous electric vehicles. And nonautonomous gasoline vehicles here will be like riding a horse and using a foot bone."

The company's stock surged after the results, but TheStreet Pro's Bob Byrne noted that "any time we get a huge post-earnings move, it can be beneficial to step back and examine the perspective of the longer-term price action before jumping in long with both feet."