Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be one of the two leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with Vivek Ramaswamy.
Analysts like Wedbush’s Dan Ives are digging into whether it is a positive or a negative for Tesla, which has gained 50 percent on Wall Street over the past month.
Ives, a Tesla bull who recently pushed his price target to $400 on the stock, believes Musk’s role within the Trump White House will ultimately be a positive for Tesla.
While some might have feared that another responsibility under Musk’s belt would take time away from the EV maker, Ives believes this move will actually streamline Tesla’s AI initiatives.
In a note to investors late Tuesday night after President-elect Trump made the announcement, Ives said:
“While this is not an official US government department and would not need Congressional approval, it’s clear that Musk will have a massive role in the Trump White House with his increasing reach clearly across many federal agencies. Since this is not an official Cabinet or US government position and it’s essentially newly created, there will be NO changes to Musk’s CEO roles with Tesla and SpaceX, importantly from the Street’s perspective.”
Reservations regarding what type of time Musk could give Tesla if he takes on yet another role are certain to pop up. However, these worries were much more apparent and relevant when Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, which had many investors curious as to how Musk would split his time.
Elon Musk hints that public will be involved in D.O.G.E.’s operations
This does not seem to be a concern with this particular role, and it could be because many are expecting Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and other AI plans to be stronger because of his relationship with the President-elect:
“We would also expect Musk to have a key role on many of the new AI initiatives within the government (AI Ambassador) as well as China tariff discussions over the coming months as Trump gets ready to take the Oval Office in January.”
This is not to say there are not some thoughts about how Musk will balance the workload. However, Ives says, “…we believe the major benefits for Musk and Tesla outweigh any negatives as this continues to be a ‘poke move for the ages’ by Musk betting on Trump.”
Ives and Wedbush have a $400 price target and an ‘Outperform’ rating on Tesla shares.
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