Elon Musk at the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France.
MARC PIASECKI—GETTY IMAGES
Tesla’s competition is fiercer than ever. That has done little, however, to quell a massive rally in the company’s stock price that has erased year-to-date losses and quieted for now questions of whether it still deserves to be part of the Magnificent Seven—a movie-inspired term that describes the tech giants (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are the others) that account for the lion’s share of the stock market’s gains in recent years.
When Tesla shares dipped as low as $138.80 in April, however, Tesla barely clung to its place on the list of America’s top 10 largest companies. Pundits like CNBC’s Jim Cramer had already declared that the company had vacated its seat among some of the country’s most powerful and fastest-growing companies.
Boosted by Q2 deliveries that exceeded low expectations, however, Tesla’s massive rally continued Wednesday as shares traded at their highest level since September, closing the day at $263.26. Tesla’s market capitalization is now approaching $850 billion. That makes Tesla the eighth-largest U.S. company, though it still sits well-behind the $1.3 trillion market cap of Meta, the next-smallest member of the Magnificent Seven.
As Fortune’s Christiaan Hetzner noted earlier this week, Tesla bulls may see the firm as an artificial intelligence company, but it still needs to prove it can sell cars for now—a proposition that might be in doubt given a New York Times report, citing Cox Automotive, that Tesla no longer controls a majority of the American EV market.
Seth Goldstein, an equities strategist at Morningstar, told Fortune that he never believed focusing on Tesla’s EV market share was a good idea. As overall demand for electric vehicles climbs, he noted, Tesla’s market share should fall even if the company continues to grow.
“I think the more important number is, what are their deliveries and what’s their percent of the total auto market, including internal combustion engines?” Goldstein said.
Tesla’s deliveries beat expectations
That number impressed Goldstein as did the record numbers from Tesla’s energy storage business. The company said it deployed 9.4 gigawatt hours of battery energy storage, its highest quarterly number yet and more than double the amount reported in Q1. Even small changes in expectations for high-growth stocks, Goldstein said, can heavily impact share prices.
“That shows that Tesla can still grow,” Goldstein said. “It shows that maybe the worst is behind Tesla, and that they are turning things around.”
Awaiting news on robo-taxis and affordable vehicles
Investors may also be looking forward to Aug. 8, when Tesla is scheduled to reveal its Cybercab, the robo-taxi model expected to lack a steering wheel and pedals. Goldstein is curious if the unveiling features a concrete timeline or instead offers few details.
In the more immediate future, Goldstein wants to hear more about Tesla’s progress on producing a new, more affordable vehicle when the company hosts its next earnings call on July 23. Musk has said production could start as soon as 2025, which Goldstein said would enable deliveries to start growing again by 2026.
He thinks the market will react positively if that timeline remains intact.
“If they don’t commit to it again or give us any updates,” he said, “we could see the stock falter.”
News
Game of Thrones Made the Right Call Cutting the Books’ Biggest Targaryen Twist – And This Major Spinoff Trend Proves It!
Game of Thrones cut A Song of Ice and Fire‘s biggest Targaryen twist (so far) when it didn’t include Young Griff, aka Aegon Targaryen, but it was the right…
Jon Snow’s iconic sword and Jaime Lannister’s golden hand are up for grabs – Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of ‘Game of Thrones’ history!
Heritage Auctions has united with HBO to offer more than 2,000 pieces from the hit series based on George R.R. Martin’s novels. They include the dreaded shame…
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Might Blow Past Game of Thrones’ Biggest Cameo – If They Can Land This One Celebrity Who Would Be Perfect for the Role!
One celebrity is so perfect that their potential cameo in House of the Dragon can leave behind Game of Thrones’ most memorable cameo. The Game of Thrones prequel, House…
House of the Dragon Season 2: A slow-burning yet captivating ‘dance’ you won’t want to miss!
The long night has officially begun, and two bleak winters will now pass before we are gifted season three of this magnificent show. Season one of House of…
House of the Dragon’s Fabien Frankel set to reunite with co-stars Matt Smith & Tom Glynn-Carney at NYCC 2024 – What could this epic reunion reveal?
Raise your banners – green and black are coming head-to-head at New York Comic Con 2024. House of the Dragon’s Ser Criston Cole – aka actor Fabien…
10 Strangest Details You Probably Missed in House of the Dragon!
The first two seasons of House of the Dragon had many great moments and clever plotlines setting up a horrific war, known as the Dance of the Dragons,…
End of content
No more pages to load