Tesla market value passes RM2 trillion after super rally – Elon Musk is now the world’s second richest man

Crazy stuff. Tesla’s market value shot past US$500 billion (that’s RM2.044 trillion) yesterday, the latest peak in a super rally that has seen the EV maker’s stock jump over 500% in 2020. As investors bought Tesla shares in the run-up to its debut in the S&P 500, the counter rose nearly 5% yesterday, putting its market capitalisation at $519 billion.

According to Reuters, the frenzy started from November 16, when it was announced Tesla would join the S&P 500 benchmark. Since then, Tesla shares have risen by over 30%. It’ll come down in time, perhaps, but at its current share prices, Elon Musk‘s company is by far the world’s most valuable automaker despite making just a fraction of what traditional big boys Toyota, Volkswagen and GM roll out.

Never mind the carmakers – currently, Tesla is Wall Street’s seventh most valuable company, just behind Berkshire Hathaway. It could even overtake Warren Buffett’s company in the future, as index funds that replicate the S&P 500 will have to buy more than $50 billion worth of Tesla’s stock ahead of its inclusion to the index on December 21.

Also, Goldman Sachs has estimated that actively managed mutual funds could buy another $8 billion of Tesla shares after it is added to the S&P 500. Tesla has seen five consecutive quarters of profit after years of losses, so there’s at least some correlation between the share price frenzy and the company’s actual performance.

Tesla gains have propelled Elon Musk to be the world’s second richest man, overtaking Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Musk, whose personal net worth jumped by $7.2 billion to $128 billion with the share price surge, is now only behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

While Tesla is grabbing all the headlines, shares of other EV companies have also rallied in recent months. This is due to US president-elect Joe Biden campaign promise of boosting EVs. “One of the core underpinnings of the Biden platform will be around pushing clean energy and zero-emissions vehicles with hopes of accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles and public charging outlets by 2030,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a research note, reported by Reuters.

Nio, China’s NYSE-listed answer to Tesla, has seen its shares rise 72% in November.

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