What Happened?
Shares of online used car dealer Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) jumped 2.1% in the morning session after Barclays initiated coverage on the stock with an 'Overweight' rating and a $390 price target.
The new rating from the financial services firm indicated a positive outlook on the online used-car retailer's prospects. An 'Overweight' rating generally meant the analyst believed the stock would perform better than the average return of the stocks in the analyst's coverage universe. The $390 price target suggested a significant potential upside from the stock's previous closing price. This initiation added to a generally favorable view from market analysts, reflecting confidence in the company's digital platform for buying and selling vehicles.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $334.69, up 2.4% from previous close.
Is now the time to buy Carvana? Access our full analysis report here.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Carvana’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 45 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 5.7% on the news that positive analyst sentiment highlighted a potential upside for the stock. The optimistic outlook was supported by a consensus "Buy" rating from 19 analysts covering the company. On average, these analysts set a price target of $411.53, which represented a potential 35.38% increase from its trading price. This general belief among analysts suggested the stock was likely to perform better than the broader market over the following twelve months.
Carvana is up 67.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $334.69 per share, it is still trading 15.4% below its 52-week high of $395.41 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Carvana’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,559.
Microsoft, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, Monster Beverage—all began as under-the-radar growth stories riding a massive trend. We’ve identified the next one: a profitable AI semiconductor play Wall Street is still overlooking.Go here for access to our full report.