Tesla Is Now The World’s Most Valuable Car Company With A $208 Billion Valuation

TOPLINE

Tesla’s stock jumped to a new record high on Wednesday, giving the electric vehicle maker a valuation of more than $208 billion, which means that it is now the most valuable car company on the planet.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Ringo H.W. Chiu/ASSOCIATED PRESS

KEY FACTS

Tesla’s stock has surged 17% this week alone, on Monday closing above $1,000 per share for the first time ever and on Wednesday hitting a new record high price of $1,135 per share.

With its latest stock rally, that means Tesla is now the most valuable car company in the world, valued at around $208 billion.

With that market cap, Tesla has now officially surpassed Toyota—its main rival for that title, which is valued at roughly $203 billion; Toyota’s stock fell more than 1% in overseas trading.

Tesla is also now worth more than many of its rivals combined, such as Fiat Chrysler ($20 billion), Ford ($24 billion), Ferrari ($32 billion), General Motors ($36 billion), BMW ($41 billion), Honda ($46 billion) and Volkswagen ($74 billion).

The milestone is highly indicative of investors’ vast enthusiasm for Tesla: The company’s shares have more than doubled so far in 2020, surging over 150% amid continued interest from retail and institutional investors.

Tangent

While Tesla now has a higher market cap than Toyota, it still lags the Japanese automaker in several key metrics. Toyota still produces a far greater volume of vehicles than Tesla, for example: In the first quarter of 2020, Tesla said it produced about 103,000 vehicles, while Toyota produced 2.4 million during that same period. Toyota also has a greater enterprise value ($290 billion), which factors in a company’s debt, than Tesla does ($252 billion), according to FactSet data.

Surprising fact

With Tesla’s stock rising to new record highs—surging over 110% in the second quarter of 2020 alone, so too have the fortunes of its cofounder and CEO, Elon Musk. Since April, Musk has nearly doubled his net worth, which has risen from $24 billion to just over $46 billion.

Chief critics

Many analysts on Wall Street still warn that Tesla, now at well over $1,000 per share, could be grossly overvalued. Cowen’s Jeffrey Osborne said in a note to clients on Tuesday that the firm “continues to be cautious on Tesla,” with an underperform rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley analysts similarly have an underperform rating, warning that too many investors are ignoring the risks of running a car company and instead treating Tesla like a high-growth tech company.