On June 29, 2010, electric carmaker Tesla went public . If an investor purchased $1,000 worth of TSLA stock, it is now worth $105,540.
Tesla stock debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange at around $19.2. Since then, the stock has surged to $2,049, recording a 10,571% increase in ten years.
Tesla is now the world’s most-valuable carmaker after it surpassed Toyota’s valuation at $202.74 billion on July 1.
The acceleration of production and deliveries, and the firm’s strong Q2 performance , led Tesla stock to surge.
Although Tesla delivered 50% more vehicles in 2019 than it did in 2018, it shipped 367,500 cars last year. In comparison, Toyota manufactures around 10 million cars every year.
Tesla bulls and some prominent investment firms, like Ark Invest, still see massive growth potential in the company.
Tesla might be highly valued when compared to existing carmakers and the automotive industry. But investors consider the company to be more than a car manufacturer.
Former investment banker Matt Smith explained auto sales is one of Tesla’s many potential business lines in the long term. He laid out six major sectors the firm could dominate:
“These are 1) Auto sales (excl FSD) 2) FSD (excl robotaxis) 3) Robotaxis 4) Ride Hailing (pre-robotaxis) 5) Solar 6) Storage, incl V2G 6) corporate / taxes.”
Similarly, Ark Invest emphasized that it expects robotaxis to become a significant business for the company.
Ark Invest, which manages $11.1 billion in assets under management , reaffirmed its $7,000 target for Tesla stock by 2024. The firm’s research paper reads:
“Based on our updated expectations for electric vehicle (EV) cost declines and demand, as well as our estimates for the potential profitability of robotaxis, our 2024 expected value per share for TSLA is $7,000. To arrive at that base case, ARK has developed a probability analysis with bear and bull price estimates.”
Tesla stock currently has around 186.36 million shares outstanding. A potential stock price of $7,000 per share would place the firm’s valuation at $1.285 trillion.
In May, Ark Invest CEO Cathy Wood said the private investment firm took profits on its Tesla position. a
But Wood noted that Tesla remains the top position in the company’s funds, and it was to control position sizes.
If Tesla stock sees short-term price fluctuations due to various reasons, she reaffirmed the firm would continue to build positions. She said:
“We had an up year, and I think one of the important reasons is we trade around the volatility. If Tesla is going down because some hedge fund or negative analyst is saying something that seems really awful, we have a pretty good handle given our research on that stock that we’ll be buying into it unless it’s a big surprise to us.”
Despite the pandemic, Tesla has successfully recorded four profitable quarters and is now expanding with more Gigafactories planned.
Footage of the firm’s latest Gigafactory construction in Texas show placements of footer reinforcements and outlines of the factory.