Tesla stock zooms to best in two years on China factory optimism

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Tesla Inc. shares rallied more than 6% on Monday, on track for their best close since September 2017 and hovering at their best-ever finish.

Tesla TSLA, +6.02%  stock was the best performer on Nasdaq on Monday, and among the top 10 most active.

Monday’s gains, the largest one-day percentage increase since late October, put the stock at a 15% advance for the year, about half the gains for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.88%  but an impressive finish after a losing first half of the year.

Tesla hit a record closing high of $385 on Sept. 18, 2017.

Analysts at Oppenheimer on Monday highlighted photos of Tesla vehicles produced in the under-construction China factory and said that “expectations for a relatively smooth ramp” for the Shanghai facility are increasing.

See also: Tesla Model 3 named ‘best electric car’ by Edmunds

Tesla has learned ”important lessons” from the production ramps for its Model S, Model X, and Model 3 and “is implementing best practices in the new factory,” the analysts said in a note.

“Near-term, it appears (Tesla) is tracking toward being able to achieve its target for delivering 360k vehicles” for the year, they said. “We note that (Tesla’s) deliveries are highly concentrated toward the end of the quarter and execution over the next two weeks will be critical for 4Q19 results.”

Tesla is expected to report fourth-quarter deliveries in early January and fourth-quarter results likely in February.

Related: Jim Chanos on Tesla: ‘We are still bears’

The company surprised markets in October when it reported a surprise GAAP and adjusted profit for the third quarter, kicking off the late-year gains for the shares, which include a 31% advance for October.

Tesla is fresh from showing off its “Cybertruck,” and Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the pickup truck already had about 250,000 preorders, which entail a $100 refundable deposit.