Tesla is doing well.
The electric car maker delivered more vehicles than investors expected in the last quarter of 2019, sending its stock price to a new record. TSLA ended the first week of 2020 above $443 per share. Tesla’s market capitalization is now about $80 billion, more than double that of Ford’s, at $37 billion.
Tesla’s market cap first exceeded Ford’s in April 2017. The two companies started out 2018 at about the same place, with Ford valued at $52 billion and Tesla at $54 billion. Tesla has mostly been in the lead since. Ford’s market cap last eclipsed Tesla’s in April 2019, after the venerable automaker turned out a good first quarter.
Now, Tesla is clearly leaving Ford behind.
Investors have reasons to be optimistic. Tesla delivers far more electric cars than any other brand. Its Model 3 is the most popular electric car in the world, selling three times the number of the second most popular model, China’s BAIC EU-Series, in the first 11 months of 2019.
Like other traditional automakers, Ford is playing catch-up in the electric space. In April last year, it invested $500 million in the electric truck maker Rivian for its battery technology. And in November, it announced its first all-electric car, the Mustang Mach-E, to be delivered to the mass market in 2021.
Of course, plenty of short sellers are still betting against Tesla, but they’ve had a particularly bumpy ride of late, losing $8.4 billion in the last seven months.