Carvana Stock Rises After Needham Upgrade, New EV Shopping Features [Video]

Carvana (CVNA) shares sped higher Wednesday after analysts at Needham upgraded its stock and the company unveiled new features for buying electric vehicles (EVs).

The digtal car-buying company is a “secular growth story with a cyclical recovery kicker,” Needham analysts Chris Pierce and Mackenzie Holleran wrote in a Wednesday note in which they lifted their rating to “buy” from “hold.”

Needham issued a price target of $160, a 27% premium over Tuesday’s closing price. Carvana shares, which traded as low as $25.09 last November, were up 5.7% to $132.79 as of 12:15 p.m. ET Wednesday.

“After a volatile past we see [Carvana] becoming a profitable secular growth story, with increasing retail unit sales and improving gross profit per unit metrics from leveraging a high-fixed-cost base,” the analysts wrote. 

Carvana on Wednesday launched a “streamlined process” it said makes buying used EVs easier. The new process lets customers search for EVs that specifically qualify …