Tesla becomes the most valuable car company on Earth, passing Toyota
And I think it's gonna be Elon, lon, time... SpaceX Rocket Man and Tesla EV pioneer Elon Musk is having a winning 2020 (unlike the rest of us). In addition to a historic rocket launch and a baby named X Æ A-Xii, Elon has now notched the title: "CEO of world's most valuable car company."
- On Wednesday, Tesla became the most valuable car company in the world. Its market cap is now around $224B, well past long-time #1 Toyota's $205B.
- On Thursday, Tesla backed up that milestone with expectations-beating numbers: It produced 82K cars and delivered 91K last quarter.
Still seeing more Priuses... Tesla's deliveries fell only 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year — impressive, since the April through June quarter was peak corona-conomy shutdown. For reference: GM, Ford and Toyota saw quarterly sales plunge by over 30%. But Tesla's total numbers still pale in comparison to Toyota's:
- 368K: The number of cars Tesla delivered last year, compared to Toyota's 11M (30X more than Tesla).
- Annual profit: What Toyota has delivered for years — Tesla has yet to swing one.
Tesla is a young avocado tree... and Toyota is a mature, profitable orange tree. Investors like Tesla's potential — and stock prices are all about future growth. After years of quarterly losses, Tesla has delivered 3 profitable quarters in a row. Plus, it was able to maintain that momentum during an economic crisis/global pandemic. Investors like what they see, so they're buying the stock hoping for future profit growth.