Tesla +3% after bearish takes wadded up by BofA, Morgan Stanley

• Bank of America lifts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to a Neutral rating from Underperform as it notes the company's unfettered access to low-cost capital, which is seen likely to be leveraged into accelerating growth.
• "It is important to recognize that the higher the upward spiral of TSLA’s stock goes, the cheaper capital becomes to fund growth, which is then rewarded by investors with a higher stock price. The inverse of this dynamic is also true, and it is this self-fulfilling framework that appears to explain the extreme moves in TSLA stock to the upside and downside," writes John Murphy.
• Murphy says BofA remains skeptical that TSLA will be the dominant EV automaker in the long run, however sees the growth story carrying the day for the stock.
• Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley lifts Tesla to Equal Weight from Underweight and increased its base case price target to $1,360. "Tesla has been assembling assets/tech/people to put them in position to potentially unveil a vertically integrated battery supply business that resets the industry cost curve," updates analyst Adam Jonas. The firm pushes out a bull case and bear case scenario with each of its ratings updates, which pulls some of the punch from its upgrade/downgrade/
• Perhaps a surprise, but Tesla stacks up pretty well in the automobile sector on Quant Rating comparison with a score higher than Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota.
• Shares of Tesla are up 3.15% in the premarket session to $1,672.00.