Ken Kahn

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon.

Today is Monday, December 15th, and I'm your host, Ken Kahn.

Our top story so far.

Wedbush is calling for a monster year ahead for Tesla, as a debate heats up over how quickly the RoboTaxi era takes shape following a successful initial launch in Austin.

Analyst Dan Ives says Tesla is set to accelerate RoboTaxi rollouts across the U.S., with CyberCab volume production expected to begin in April or May.

He argues Tesla is taking major steps along its AI and autonomy roadmap, positioning robotics and self-driving as core growth engines heading into 2026.

Ives reiterated his view that AI and autonomy alone are worth at least $1 trillion for outperform rated Tesla, adding that key initiatives could be fast-tracked over the next three to six months as regulatory hurdles around full self-driving ease.

Wedbush sees Tesla's market cap surpassing $2 trillion in the coming year, and in a bull case reaching $3 trillion by the end of 2026 as autonomous and robotics production scales.

Eyes also estimates Tesla could control about 70% of the global autonomous market over the next decade.

Among active stocks, ServiceNow is under pressure after reports it's in advanced talks to acquire Armis, the U.S.-Israeli cybersecurity firm that had been preparing for potential IPO in 2026, for about $7 billion.

Adding to the weakness, KeyBank downgraded ServiceNow to Underweight, citing what analyst Jackson Ader called worrying trends in IT back-office employment data.

Ader also cut Adobe to Underweight with a $3.10 price target, saying the tradeoff between growth and margins could make sustained outperformance difficult.

On the bullish side, Wedbush raised its price target on Micron to $300 from $2.20 ahead of earnings, maintaining an outperformed rating.

Analyst Matt Bryson said estimates have been lifted to just above the high end of Micron's guidance, and even that may prove conservative.

Looking to the economy, the Empire State Manufacturing Index slipped into contraction territory in December, falling to negative 3.9 from 18.7 in November, and missing the 10 consensus.

New orders were steady while shipments dipped modestly.

Pantheon Macro's Oliver Allen says the expected employment component remains weak, suggesting the sector will continue shedding jobs.

He adds that slow growth in manufacturing output looks more likely than a boom from here.

In other news of note...