The shares of the Silicon Valley electric car manufacturer, Tesla, rose almost 5 percent on January 8, 2020, reaching a record $492.14 per share and raising its market capitalization to nearly $89 billion, or 2 billion more than the sum of the General Motors and Ford which has market capitalization of 50 billion USD and 37 billion USD respectively.
Driven by third-quarter earnings, a new factory in China and growing car deliveries in the fourth quarter, Tesla shares have more than doubled in the last three months.
The expectations were wrong: Tesla can make it
The progress made by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has challenged short sellers and other dealers who expect the automaker to be surpassed by long-established car companies, including GM and Ford. The two companies delivered more than two million vehicles in the United States last year, compared to worldwide deliveries of 367,500 Tesla vehicles.
While Tesla’s recent progress has encouraged supporters, many analysts and investors remain pessimistic about the company’s ability to generate profits and cash flow consistently. The company has repeatedly breached its objectives in recent years and Musk’s behavior has been subject to careful scrutiny by financial regulators and Tesla shareholders.
However, most conventional car manufacturers continue to increase new generations of electric vehicles designed to compete with Tesla’s combination of style, technology and performance.
GM shares have not changed in the last 12 months, while Ford has risen 10 percent, both with drastically lower performance in the overall market, with a drop in car sales in China, hurting the feeling of investors in both companies.
