It’s almost 15 years since Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) went public back in June of 2010 for $17 a share. It was the first time an American auto manufacturer went public since Ford’s IPO in 1956. Tesla as a car manufacturer is definitely a success story. It started in 2003 as an idea. By 2008 it released its first car. Then 8 years later, in 2016, Tesla reported its first profitable quarter as a car manufacturer that had production lines for two car models covering two types of vehicles: sedan and SUV. 2020 was Tesla’s first fully profitable year as it made and delivered 500 thousand cars.
Tesla's stock and the Elon effect
This success story reflected positively on the company’s stock along the way, maybe a bit too positive. The stock is on the top 10 lists of two of the top US stock market indexes, the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500. While most automotive companies trade at a P/E ratio between 5 and 10, Tesla’s stock is currently trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 177, as of the closing of the last trading session. This is due to investors’ confidence in the CEO, Elon Musk, who has been leading the company since 2008. Most Tesla investors view the company as something more than a car manufacturer.
Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus
The car manufacturing business didn’t see growth in 2024; in fact, it dropped 1% compared to 2023. But Musk keeps throwing future plans and promises like autonomous vehicles and a cab business that would run on them. Last week, Musk made a bold statement that Tesla is going towards the $10 trillion valuation, and this would be thanks to Optimus, the humanoid robot Tesla is working on. Musk said the company is going to make several thousand units of Optimus this year to deploy in Tesla factories to work on the development and production of the next version, which he plans to launch in 2026 and sell to other companies.
If you invested $1000 in Tesla at IPO
Tesla closed its first trading day at a share price of $23.89, then it went through a couple of stock splits that adjusted that number to $1.59. Using Stoculator's stock calculator, $1,000 invested in Tesla’s stock at IPO would be worth $227,048.41 (as of February 09, 2025). That's an annual return rate of 44.89% with a total return of 22,604.84%.
A $1,000 invested in Tesla 10 years ago would be worth $26,619.65 (as of February 09, 2025). That's an annual return rate of 38.84% and a total return rate of 2561.97%.
You can use Stoculator's calculator to check the numbers for different periods and investment amounts.