Next Tuesday is a big day for fans of Tesla shares, the price of which is either indicative of a genius at work, or some sort of collective madness.
At $252 each, stocks in the cars that can drive themselves (sometimes) are worth nearly $800 billion.
That makes the business more valuable than Mercedes-Benz, VW and Stellantis combined, as AJ Bell points out, after recent leaps in the stock.
“Quite what inspired this romp is hard to divine,” says the broker, an allusion to Tesla being a dream led by a cult.
Elon Musk is plainly brilliant, plainly, perhaps literally, shooting for the stars.
He was right about electric vehicles and has turbo charged that industry in what is an extraordinary example of one-man bending events to his will.
It still seems most likely that in the future, if we drive at all, if will be Ford’s, VW’s and Toyota’s, same as now.
If you haven’t driven a Tesla, try it. It’s exhilarating and slightly scary.
But the business case is under pressure due to tumbling cash flow and a drop in production levels.
Second quarter results on Tuesday will do well if Wall Street and City folk can see that the business aside from the cars -- energy storage, energy generation and other business lines – is on the up.
If they aren’t, investors are buying a dream – actual financial results be damned.
Which is fine, so long as they know.
I might buy a car, if I suddenly had some money coming my way. The shares? Not on this planet.
Like our own Ocado, Tesla is a perpetual jam tomorrow story. Away from Tesla, Elon Musk might colonise Mars and save enough humans for the race to continue.
If things get that bad, the value of Tesla shares and indeed all shares is, sadly, zero.
