Tesla stock pops the most in more than two months

Tesla Inc. stock on Monday gained the most since early January, and traded as the No. 2 best performer on the Nasdaq-100 index.

The shares traded as high as 4.8%, their largest intraday percentage increase since Jan. 8.The pop put Tesla TSLA, +5.15% shares on track for their highest close since Feb. 28, when it closed at $343.06, and snapped a two-day losing streak for the stock.

The company is fresh from getting a nod from analysts at Morgan Stanley, led by Adam Jonas, who on Friday wrote he believed the Silicon Valley company would overcome production bottlenecks and ramp Model 3 production throughout 2018.

That would in turn boost cash flow and investor sentiment, and lift share prices. Jonas’s stock price target is $379, which is about 11% above current levels.

Bloomberg News reported Sunday that Tesla’s factory in Fremont, Calif., had temporarily stopped Model 3 production for four days in late February.

Tesla confirmed the report and said the downtime had been planned, adding that such periods are used to improve automation and address bottlenecks to increase production rates eventually.

Tesla shares have gained 42% in the past 12 months, which compares with 17% gains for the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.21% and 21% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. DJIA, -0.69% That outperformance has held so far this year as well, with Tesla up 11% to the indexes’ gains of 4.3% and 2%.

The Model 3 is a key component of Tesla’s expansion ambitions, but the company has struggled to meet its own production goals. In February, it said it was on track to produce 2,500 Model 3 sedans a week by the end of the first quarter, and 5,000 a week to the end of the second quarter.

The company had hoped to be producing 5,000 Model 3 sedans a week by the end of the first quarter. In January, Tesla reported lower-than-expected deliveries in its fourth quarter.

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