Citizens Analyst Repeats Tesla Market Perform, Keeps Uber Market Outperform as Robotaxi Permits Advance

A Citizens analyst said new robotaxi permitting outcomes did not change his overall view of Tesla or Uber, reiterating a Market Perform rating on Tesla and a Market Outperform rating on Uber with a $100 price target.

The reaffirmations, which were reported by Yahoo Finance, were attributed to an Aug. 24 note from Andrew Boone of Citizens. According to the report, Boone kept Tesla’s rating at Market Perform and maintained his stronger view on Uber at Market Outperform.

The article framed the decision around robotaxi permits, pointing to the way regulators’ actions can shift expectations for ride-hailing and autonomous driving timelines. Despite that, Boone concluded that the permits were not enough to warrant changes to either stock’s rating.

For Tesla, the report indicates Boone’s rating remained unchanged rather than moving higher or lower on the news. For Uber, the report similarly indicates the analyst did not adjust his recommendation even as robotaxi permissions progressed.

The report did not provide additional granular detail on which jurisdictions issued which permits, what operating scope the permits allow, or how quickly either company could scale commercial service based on regulatory approvals.

It also did not lay out any specific changes to financial forecasts, valuation assumptions, or probability-weighted timelines tied to the robotaxi permitting developments. As a result, readers are left with the analyst’s qualitative view that permits alone were insufficient to move his stance.

Tesla and Uber sit in related but distinct positions in the autonomous-transport ecosystem. Tesla is primarily known for its broader automotive business and its approach to driver-assistance and autonomy-related software, while Uber is a mobility platform that partners with autonomy efforts to expand self-driving services.

What the market is likely to watch next, based on this kind of analyst response, is whether additional regulatory approvals narrow the gap between permits and real-world scaling, including operational readiness, safety performance, and the durability of demand for robotaxi services. For now, Boone’s unchanged ratings suggest the next catalysts may be less about receiving permits and more about turning them into measurable, repeatable service rollouts.