Tesla to double Austin robotaxi fleet in Dec; shares up

Tesla TSLA.O CEO Elon Musk said on Tues the electric vehicle maker will double its robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas, in Dec, six months after the service's launch in the city

TSLA up 1.4% before the bell to $425.45 amid rise in Wall Street futures .N

The expansion comes as the autonomous vehicle industry, including rivals like Alphabet's GOOGL.O Waymo and Amazon's AMZN.O Zoox, accelerates growth after years of high costs and tight regulations

TSLA recently traded at about 205x fwd earnings, well above its 5-yr avg of roughly 95x, according to LSEG Datastream data, suggesting shares may be overvalued

Through Tues close, TSLA shares up ~4% YTD, underperforming the Nasdaq's .IXIC ~19% rise

Stock is ~14% below its 52-week intraday high of $488.54 reached on Dec 18

Of 55 analysts covering TSLA, recommendation breakdown is 25 "strong buy" or "buy", 19 "hold" and 11 "sell" or "strong sell" ratings - LSEG

Median PT of $408 up from $329 two months ago and from $300 on Aug 26