TESLA Knocks on S&P 500’s Door…
Tesla Inc.’s TSLA 1.53% stock rally has made it bigger than many behemoths of American industry, but the electric-car company has yet to achieve one major milestone: inclusion in the S&P 500.
Shares have more than tripled this year, driving Tesla’s market value to $291 billion, according to FactSet. The run has been fueled in part by optimism about the car maker’s earnings report due out late Wednesday. Some analysts forecast a surprise profit that would make the company eligible for inclusion in the benchmark stock-market gauge.
To be considered for the index, companies must report an accumulated profit over four consecutive quarters, including the most recent. Tesla has yet to accomplish the feat. The consensus estimate of analysts polled by FactSet is for a modest loss. Some analysts are more optimistic because of the company’s recent history of earnings beats and Chief Executive Elon Musk’s aggressive push to restart his Fremont, Calif., factory even as the coronavirus put a halt to production.
- Tesla reported its first full year of GAAP profits, along with second-quarter results Wednesday.
- During the period ending June 30, 2020, Elon Musk’s electric car company grappled with the effects of a Covid-19 pandemic on its U.S. employees and factory operations, especially.
- Tesla said its revenue reached $6.04 billion during the quarter, with $428 million of that from regulatory credits.
Insane stock price makes sense in world gone mad!
Like a SpaceX rocket lofting a Tesla Roadster into orbit, Tesla stock is on a vertical trip into outer space. Since March, the electric car maker’s share price has more than quadrupled to a mind-boggling market value of $290 billion.
That makes Tesla, which reported second-quarter earnings Wednesday, the world’s highest valued car company — if far from the largest. Of the 90 million cars sold around the world in 2019 Tesla sold 367,000. Take the two top-selling carmakers in the world, Toyota and Volkswagen, toss in Ford; the stock market still values Tesla higher than all three combined.
On Monday, Tesla stock climbed nearly 10%, adding $26.5 billion to its market value in a single day. It pulled back 4.5% on Tuesday, to $1,568.36 a share, then closed up about 1.5% Wednesday. Shares spiked more than 5% in after-hours trading when Tesla reported a net quarterly profit of $104 million.
Even Jim Cramer, the CNBC personality who has hyped Tesla stock plenty in the past, is astounded. Asked about Tesla stock on Twitter on Monday, he wrote: “I don’t even know if it is a stock. it is something else entirely, like a new species discovered in the wild.”