General Motors‘ strong competitive position in key future technologies in the auto market is underestimated by investors, according to a Wall Street firm.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its rating for GM to buy from neutral, saying the company will thrive due to its upcoming electric and autonomous cars.

“GM’s management is proactively pursuing expansion opportunities at an accelerating
pace, while maintaining the strength of its core truck and global auto business,” analyst John Murphy wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. “We believe GM has many pieces of the puzzle (and more pieces than its major competitors) that will be required to deploy and monetize future vehicle technology, namely electrification, autonomy, and connectivity.”

GM shares jumped 2 percent to a record Tuesday after the call and are now up 24 percent for the year, compared with the S&P 500’s 13 percent return. Murphy raised his price target for GM’s stock to $57 from $40, representing 35 percent upside from Monday’s close.

“We think GM’s ability to integrate an autonomous electric vehicle into a ride hailing fleet
and/or shared fleet, with the overlay of OnStar, puts the company in a unique
competitive first mover position,” he wrote.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this story.