Tesla goes full throttle towards elite American S&P 500 index
TESLA could be on the brink of joining America’s S&P 500 stock market index after it shocked Wall Street with a surprise £82m profit.
The electric car maker, run by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk, defied critics again last night by posting its fourth consecutive quarter of growth.
This was a key hurdle the company had to achieve to be considered for entry into the elite index, where Tesla would be among the most valuable companies.
Inclusion isn’t automatic – and a committee will still need to weigh up a number of measures before it decides whether to bring Tesla into the fold. Other big names in the S&P include McDonald’s, Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola and Visa.
Before Tesla unveiled its secondquarter results, analysts expected the company to have racked up a loss of £189m – though estimates varied wildly and some said recent car sales weren’t taken into account.
Revenue between April and June came in at £4.7bn – which was slightly below last year but well ahead of the £4.2bn Wall Street was preparing for.
Shares have rallied this month since Tesla said it delivered more vehicles than expected during the second quarter - despite disruptions caused by the pandemic.
It recently became the world’s most valuable car manufacturer and its shares have surged by 280pc this year.
Its stock rose another 4pc in after-hours trading last night. Musk, 49, has poked fun at analysts and investors who have said Tesla is overvalued – many of whom have lost out by short-selling its shares – by releasing a limited edition line of red satin ‘short shorts’.
Musk has seen his net worth jump by around £37bn this year to £59bn as Tesla shares rose. On Monday his net worth rose £4bn in a day in a wider stock market rally.
He became a father for the seventh time in May when his girlfriend, the 32-year-old Canadian singer Grimes, gave birth to their first child.