How Much Is Tesla Software Worth? A Lot.

A second broker has taken a shot at valuing Tesla’s software business. The conclusion, good news for the company and for other carmakers, is that Tesla software is worth a lot.

UBS analyst Patrick Hummel took a look at some of the value hidden away in Tesla (ticker: TSLA). The idea that some might still be undiscovered within the world’s most valuable automaker, whose stock has trounced the competition, might seem oxymoronic. But bulls believe Tesla is more than just a car company, given that it sells solar panels, insurance, and importantly, software.

Hummell isn’t a full Tesla bull. He rates shares at Hold and has a target of $730 for the share price. He believes other automakers will have some success ramping up sales volumes for EVs, but that “Tesla remains the undisputed tech leader, most notably in software.”

At his price target. well above the stock’s current level of about $686, Tesla would be worth roughly $700 billion. He values the car business at roughly $200 billion, leaving about $500 billion for everything else.

“The lion’s share of this value can be generated by software, mainly autonomous driving,” wrote Hummell in a Wednesday report. “Out of $20 [billion operating profit] we expect Tesla to generate in 2025, $9 [billion] should already be software-driven.”

That almost half of profit would come from software by 2025 is surprising. Most of that would be from Tesla’s autonomous-driving package, called full self-driving mode, which sells for $10,000 today. To make more money, Tesla could improve the rate at which consumers choose that option, as well as potentially offering it via a monthly subscription.

Hummell isn’t the only one that values Tesla software highly. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has taken a sum-of-the-parts approach to valuing Tesla stock, looking at the different businesses separately. He values Tesla’s software and services business at roughly $250 billion.

That’s lower than Hummell’s call, but Jonas still rates Tesla stock at Buy, with a target of $880 for the share price. Jonas believes the Tesla car business is more valuable than Hummell does, valuing it at roughly $350 billion.

All the value and profit coming from software isn’t just a benefit to Tesla. Other auto makers plan similar products. Ford Motor (F) already plans to offer products related to its fleet of commercial vehicles around the globe. General Motors (GM) still has On Star. And Tesla peer NIO (NIO) is considering the idea of selling its autonomous-driving software as a subscription.

The theoretical valuation discussions about hidden assets, however, weren’t helping Tesla stock Wednesday. Shares were down about 0.6% in midday trading. in line with the S&P 500. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.1%.

The stock is down about 15% over the past couple of weeks, but is still more than 350% higher over the past year.

An original watercolour illustration for the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 1997 — the first book in J.K. Rowling’s hit series—could sell for US$600,000 at a Sotheby’s auction this summer.

The illustration is headlining a June 26 sale in New York that will also feature big-ticket items from the collection of the late Dr. Rodney P. Swantko, a surgeon and collector from Indiana, including manuscripts by poet Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books

The Harry Potter illustration, which introduced the young wizard character to the world, is expected to sell for between US$400,000 to US$600,000, which would make it the highest-priced item ever sold related to the Harry Potter world. This is the second time the illustration has been sold, however—it was on the auction block at Sotheby’s in London in 2001, where it achieved £85,750 (US$107,316).

The artist of the illustration, Thomas Taylor, was 23 years old at the time and a graduate student working at a children’s bookshop. According to Sotheby’s, Taylor took a “professional commission from an unknown author to visualise a unique wizarding world,” Sotheby’s said in a news release. He depicted Harry Potter boarding the train to Hogwarts on platform9 ¾ platform, and the illustration became the “universal image” of the Harry Potter series, Sotheby’s said.

“It is exciting to see the painting that marks the very start of my career, decades later and as bright as ever! It takes me back to the experience of reading Harry Potter for the first time—one of the first people in the world to do so—and the process of creating what is now an iconic image,” Taylor said in the release.

Meanwhile, to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s For Annie , 1849, Sotheby’s recently reunited the autographed manuscript of the poem with the author’s home, Poe Cottage, in the Bronx.

The cottage is where the author lived with his wife, Virginia, and mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, from 1846 until he died in 1849. The manuscript, also from the Swantko collection, will remain at the home until it is offered at auction at Sotheby’s on June 26 with an estimate between US$400,000 and US$600,000.

The autographed manuscript will remain at Poe Cottage until it is offered at auction at Sotheby’s on June 26.
Matthew Borowick for Sotheby’s

Poe Cottage, preserved and overseen by the Bronx County Historical Society, is home to many of the author’s famous works, including Eureka , 1948, and Annabel Lee , 1927.

“To reunite the For Annie manuscript with the Poe Cottage nearly two centuries after it was first composed brought to life literary history for a truly special and unique occasion,” Richard Austin , Sotheby’s Global Head of Books & Manuscripts, said in a news release.

For Annie was one of Poe’s most important compositions, and was addressed to Nancy “Annie” L. Richmond, one of the several women Poe pursued after his wife Viriginia’s death from tuberculosis in 1847.

In a letter to Richmond herself, Poe proclaimed For Annie was his best work: “I think the lines For Annie much the best I have ever written.”

The poem was composed in 1849, only months before Poe’s death, Sotheby’s said in the piece, Poe highlights the romantic comfort he feels from a woman named Annie while simultaneously grappling with the darkness of death, with lines like “And the fever called ‘living’ is conquered at last.”

Poe Cottage, preserved and overseen by the Bronx County Historical Society, is home to many of the author’s famous works, including Eureka, 1948, and Annabel Lee,, 1927.
Matthew Borowick for Sotheby’s

In the margins of the manuscript are the original handwritten instructions by Nathaniel P. Willis, co-editor of the New York Home Journal, where Poe published other poems such as The Raven and submitted For Annie on April 20, 1849.

Willis added Poe’s name in the top right and instructions about printing and presenting the poem on the side. The poem was also published in the Boston Weekly that same month.

Another piece of literary history included in the Swantko sale could surpass US$1 million. Conan Doyle’s autographed manuscript of the Sherlock Holmes tale The Sign of Four , 1889, is estimated to achieve between US$800,000 and US$1.2 million.