Morgan Stanley loves Ferrari

On the heels of strong Ferrari third-quarter earnings this week, Morgan Stanley lead auto analyst Adam Jonas is out Wednesday with a very bullish research note on the Italian automaker.

Jonas is raising his target price to $60 from $56 and has an "overweight" rating on the stock, which was trading at $54 on Wednesday.

Then he explained why Ferrari looks so appealing - and he didn't hold back:

Ferrari remains one of our very highest conviction long ideas in US autos. Ferrari may be the lowest risk business (in both cyclical and secular terms) of any company under our NA coverage .... Ferrari's business composition leaves it very shielded to a variety of market and industry risks. Waitlists are designed to be long, suggesting its products are designed to have demand significantly exceed supply. This phenomenon is expressed in the second-hand market where examples of both old and nearly new Ferraris frequently exceed list price. Exposure to China is by far lower than any other premium auto brand we cover, comprising at or under 10% of sales. On the secular side, the now widespread consideration of forthcoming autonomous cars has elevated risk to those involved in producing cars as a means of transportation. In our view, a Ferrari is not transportation. Ownership is an exclusive club and membership requires more than just money. In a world where pleasurable human driving experiences on an open road become increasingly scarce, the value of this club's membership may indeed appreciate.

I've quoted Jonas at length here because he has completely nailed what makes Ferrari special. There's a reason why it's one of the most important brands in the world - and why the automaker's stock has been bucking a Wall Street trend, with other car companies seeing their shares stall or decline.

In fact, Jonas now sounds more enthusiastic about Ferrari than Tesla, a company he's been quite bullish on in the past, but has more recently been trimming back his enthusiasm for.