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Tesla, along with other auto makers, are living through unprecedented volatility because of Covid-19. The virus is impacting production and sales and creating enormous uncertainty for every industry. Recent stock declines, however, might make this one of the best times to buy Tesla stock ever, according to at least one metric.

Wall Street analysts have always been split on Tesla (ticker: TSLA) stock. Elon Musk’s company has always had its believers, who think Tesla’s lead in electric vehicle sales and technology gives the company a sustainable competitive advantage. Tesla has always had its critics too, who don’t see how a car company can trade for sky high multiples of earnings. (Tesla trades for about 60 times estimated 2020 earnings.)

The split is evident in analyst’s target prices for the electric vehicle maker. Those prices range from a low of $240 a share at J.P. Morgan to $1,060 a share at JMP Securities. The $820 spread is about 200% of the current stock price, far wider than the average bull-bear spread of the average stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Tesla stock has spent about 30% of the time over the past decade trading above the average analyst price target. That means—on average—Wall Street believes Tesla stock is overpriced almost one third of the time.

But after Tesla stock hit about $360 on March 18—down more than 60% from its February 2020 52-week high—the stock was well below the average analyst price target of $515 a share. That price implied a gain of more than 40%.

Tesla stock has only been that cheap a few times in the past. It happened in 2011, at the beginning of 2016, and again in 2019. The stock was up about 20% a year after looking cheap in 2011. Buying in May 2019 was a good idea too: Tesla shares are up about 130% from their 52-week low. The S&P 500 is down about 14% over the same span.

Of course, that’s only a sample size of two and not a statistically relevant survey. Tesla stock was down about 20% in January 2017, a year after the 2016 buy signal.

Tesla stock raced 18% higher Thursday after dropping 16% on Wednesday. And the extreme volatility continues. Shares were down 8% in after hours trading Thursday night to under $400 because the company is halting production due to the virus. General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F) and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) made the same decision earlier this week.

The Covid-19 situation remains incredibly fluid and will continue to dominate all stocks, including auto makers, for the foreseeable future. Tesla shares will be volatile. But, based on Wall Street consensus, Tesla rarely look as cheap as this.

To be at their all-time “cheapest ever” level, Tesla shares would have to trade just below $320.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com