Why Tesla Stock Jumped on Wednesday

One analyst thinks the company's first-quarter deliveries will be higher than analysts' average forecast.

What happened

Shares of electric-car maker and green-energy specialistTesla(NASDAQ:TSLA)soared on Wednesday, jumping about 4.7% by 1:30 p.m. EDT.

The stock's gain is likely fueled by both an optimistic day in the overall market and an analyst note expressing a bullish view for the auto company's first-quarter deliveries.

So what

In an upbeat day on Wall Street, theS&P 500was up about 0.8% as of this writing on Wednesday. The tech-heavyNasdaq Composite had gained more than 1.8%. Manygrowth stockslike Tesla were up even more.

For two trading days in a row, growth stocks generally seem to be rebounding from a brutal sell-off that occurred between mid-February and late March.

Relating to Tesla specifically, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said on Wednesday that he believes Tesla's first-quarter deliveries will exceed analyst expectations for the period.

Now what

There's a lot of uncertainty around Tesla's first-quarter deliveries due to semiconductor supply shortages that have weighed on broader auto production. But Ives thinks that strong deliveries in the U.S. and China will help the company report better-than-expected deliveries.

Though Tesla's quarterly deliveries are expected to be lower sequentially, analysts are generally modeling for extremely strong year-over-year growth of around 80% to 90%.

Tesla will likely report its first-quarter vehicle deliveries on Friday or Saturday.