The EV maker is now valued at a whopping US $190 billion (S$263 billion)
It’s been a tumultuous year for Tesla thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, but that doesn’t seem to be affecting its stock price at all. And after topping US$1,000 (S$1,292) per share for the first time, Elon Musk’s company is closing in on becoming the world’s most valuable automaker.
Tesla’s stock rose by nine per cent on Wednesday, 10 June 2020, closing at a record-high US$1,025 (S$1,429), reports Bloomberg. This no doubt was yet another reason for celebration, following Musk’s SpaceX and NASA’s Crew Dragon launch. Of course, the record-high didn’t continue in that trajectory, it has since plunged back to an average of US$950 (US$1,322). That brings the company’s market capitalisation to more than US$190 billion (S$263 billion), putting it within spitting distance of Toyota, which was worth US$210.5 billion (S$293 billion) at the end of trading. Of course, given the factors such as production numbers, company history and its potential for growth, numerous analysts have already placed the EV giant in front of the Japanese carmaker.
Overall, Tesla has seen its share price rise by 23 per cent through the first 10 days of June, an increase that’s been attributed to the reopening of its production facilities in the US as well as to the market excitement for EVs after Nikola was listed, when it announced its battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell pickup truck, the Badger.
In response to the price bump, Musk, as he is wont to do, tweeted, “lol.” The new record comes a little more than a month after the tech titan tweeted that he felt the company’s stock price was too high.
Even though Tesla may soon be worth more than Toyota – the latter which has seen its shares fall by 10 per cent this year because of the global pandemic – there is a drastic difference in the scale of the two companies. From a production standpoint, Tesla built 103,000 vehicles during the first quarter of 2020, compared to the nearly 2.4 million made by Toyota.
Tesla’s stock price may be soaring right now, but that doesn’t mean everything is going well for the company. Wednesday’s milestone came as news broke that six workers have tested positive for COVID-19 at its recently reopened California production facilities, according to the Verge. Musk had also complained after the company was forced to temporarily close production facilities around the country in March because of the pandemic, repeatedly questioning the severity of the outbreak and calling the panic surrounding the virus “dumb.”
In May, a week before opening its main factory in Fremont, the automaker even sued Alameda County in an attempt to resume production sooner.
