Tesla went public ten years ago todya, valuing the shares at $ 17, more than its expected range of $ 14 to $ 16.
The company raised around $ 226 million on its IPO, with that day’s stock increase of around 41% to close at $ 23.89. Today, the electric vehicle maker’s shares closed at $ 1,009.35, meaning Tesla’s shares have risen 4.125% since the close of its first day as a public company.
That stock performance puts Tesla in a rarefied air, along with Netflix, which was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 during the 2010s. (Netflix rose 4.181% between January 2010 and December 2019. But Netflix’s shares more than doubled between January 2010 and June 2010, when Tesla went public. That means Netflix “alone” gained 2.657% in value since Tesla’s debut.) It also means that Tesla has outperformed other big tech names like Amazon and Apple, as well as all the major automakers.
The stock has had many ups and downs along the way, including a 30% drop in the month after August 7, 2018, when a CEO, Elon Musk, tweeted that he had “secured funds” to make the company private. The SEC accused Musk of misleading the public, as he allegedly knew that the funding was contingent, and both Musk individually and Tesla as a company paid fines of $ 20 million to settle the lawsuit.
But stocks have been on a rise since the early 2020s, when Tesla put its Shanghai factory into operation and began manufacturing Model Y at its original U.S. auto plant in Fremont, California. Investors also accepted the company’s promises to deliver an electric truck called the Semi, an electric van known as Cybertruck, and improvements in autonomous driving technology. Despite the Covid-19 epidemic, which shut down production at its California factory for several weeks, stocks rose more than 140% this year.
Since going public, Tesla has never had a full year of profitability. The company has reported seven quarters with net income above zero, since its IPO, the first was the first quarter of 2013. It has now reported three consecutive quarters of GAAP earnings, with some accounting adjustments on the way, and is slated to report the second quarter. earnings next month.
Tesla is now seeking inclusion in the S&P 500, which requires a minimum of four consecutive quarters of profitability, among other things.
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