Tesla shares close higher on Thursday, Autopilot executive Jim Keller to part ways with auto maker

According to a statement by Tesla Inc (TSLA) on Thursday, Jim Keller, who currently heads its low-voltage hardware, Autopilot software and infotainment, is to part ways with the company in order to focus on microprocessor engineering with another employer. A recent report by the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, stated that he would become part of Intel Corps team.

Tesla shares closed higher for the fourth time in the past nine trading sessions on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since April 19th. The stock went up 1.71% ($4.79) to $285.48, after touching an intraday low at $276.50, or a price level not seen since April 4th ($252.00).

In the week ended on April 22nd the shares of the luxury electric vehicle manufacturer lost 3.36% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first drop out of three weeks.

However, due to yesterdays gain, the stock has extended its advance to 7.27% so far during the current month following a 22.42% slump in March. The latter has been a second consecutive monthly drop and also the largest one since December 2010.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed electric car maker rose 45.70% following a 10.97% drop in 2016.

Jim Keller is to be succeeded by Pete Bannon, a former Apple employee who oversaw the tech giants A5 chip development through to the A9 chip, a Tesla spokesperson said. Bannon has been part of Teslas team for more than two years.

Meanwhile, Andrej Karpathy, director of AI and Autopilot vision at Tesla, will now be fully responsible for all Autopilot software within the electric auto maker, the spokesperson also said.

According to CNN Money, the 23 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Tesla Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $305.00, with a high estimate of $470.00 and a low estimate of $180.00. The median estimate is a 6.84% surge compared to the closing price of $285.48 on April 26th.

The same media also reported that 11 out of 27 surveyed investment analysts had rated Tesla Inc’s stock as “Hold”, while 8 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 6 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Tesla stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $286.33
R2 – $287.18
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $288.03
R4 (Long Breakout) – $290.59
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $293.57
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $295.07

S1 – $284.63
S2 – $283.78
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $282.93
S4 (Short Breakout) – $280.37
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $277.39
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $275.89

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Tesla Inc (TSLA) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $291.25
R1 – $300.00
R2 – $309.75
R3 – $318.50
R4 – $327.24

S1 – $281.50
S2 – $272.75
S3 – $263.00
S4 – $253.24