Tesla Approaches $300/Share



Tesla Inc. company logo on a building.  White on red.  The year is 2017.For the first time ever on Monday, Tesla, Inc. passed Ford Motor Company in terms of total market capitalization.

As of the close of trading on Monday afternoon, Tesla was valued at $48.63 billion, while Ford was valued at a little more than $45 billion. This came at the end of a particularly good day for Tesla, as the company traded up over 7% after reporting record deliveries of 25,000 vehicles during its first quarter.

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Tesla Inc. is looking to change the world with its full-court press towards fully autonomous self-driving cars that are powered entirely by electricity. In addition, the company is also involved in battery storage and solar panels - in Elon Musk's vision of the world, the electricity from the solar panels on your house's roof will charge the batteries that will power your house, your electric car charger and your car itself. It's an ambitious plan that has its share of detractors - for Tesla's supporters, there is no single company that has as much upside, while Tesla's detractors believe that the company will eventually implode from the weight of its own ambition.

Ford is certainly a solid company with solid financials, though Tesla's supporters are attracted to the company's potential upside, even at this valuation. There is no doubt that Tesla could be a trillion dollar company if it can pull off half of what it is trying to accomplish.

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As Tesla's market capitalization continues to tick higher, belief in the company and doubts about the company both continue to grow. Believers shrug off worries about lack of focus and cash concerns, while detractors continue to believe that the company will eventually fail and trade down to zero. This unbelievable volatility can be seen in the options market, where long-dated options are tremendously expensive.

At the end of the day, Tesla is either going to change the world as we know it or fail spectacularly.

Filed under: General Market News

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