Topline
The world’s richest person got much richer Thursday as Tesla CEO Elon Musk enjoyed a major rally for Tesla stock after the electric vehicle company’s latest earnings report encouraged Wall Street.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, center, is more than $50 billion richer than anybody else.
Key Facts
Tesla’s share price spiked more than 18% by midday Thursday, holding the massive off hours trading surge.
That came as investors reacted positively to the big third-quarter profit beat, the most cash generation in eight quarters and several encouraging tidbits shared by Musk on the accompanying analyst conference call, such as a prediction for up to 30% vehicle delivery growth in 2025, reversing this year’s 2% year-over-year delivery decline through the first three quarters.
The earnings report “reminds us growing the auto business profitably remains a high priority for Tesla,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, alluding to prior concerns about Tesla’s shrinking profit margins as it emphasizes self-driving car initiatives.
Forbes Valuation
The rally added $22.7 billion to the fortune of Tesla’s largest shareholder Musk, whose lead as the wealthiest person alive grew to more than $54 billion, according to our calculations.
Surprising Fact
Thursday is on pace to be Tesla stock’s best day since March 2021 and its third-best percentage gain of the last decade topping the 15.3% gain on April 29, when Musk’s surprise visit to China inspired a 15.3% rally.
Chief Critic
Despite the overwhelmingly positive stock reaction, this wouldn’t be a Tesla event if it wasn’t polarizing. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi slammed Wednesday’s earnings call as “more akin to a pep rally” than a typical meeting, noting the company took an unusually light two questions from sell-side analysts covering the stock.
Big Number
$120 billion. That’s about how much market capitalization Tesla added Thursday. The rally turned the stock’s year-to-date performance from a 14% loss through Wednesday to an almost% gain.
Tangent
Musk reportedly received a letter from the Justice Department warning his pro-Donald Trump political action committee may be breaking federal law by awarding $1 million to certain swing state voters, as Musk becomes one of the biggest political donors this election cycle with his backing of the GOP candidate Trump.