Tesla’s Zero-to-$20 Billion Speed Has Even Musk Shaking His Head
August has been a month of milestones for electric-car maker Tesla Motors. Last week, its Model S sedan was rated the safest car on the road today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This week, Tesla’s soaring shares — which have charted a 371 percent gain this year — pushed the company’s market cap beyond the $20 billion mark.
That’s a third of Ford’s current valuation. An extraordinary achievement for Tesla, an automaker that has only been around a tenth as long, though founder Elon Musk seems a bit uncomfortable with it.
Asked last week by CNBC about the recent run-up in Tesla shares, Musk said he was wary about the high expectations the market is placing on the company.
“I actually think … the market is being very generous,” Musk said. “And they’re obviously giving us a lot of credit for future execution. So we’ll do our best to honor the faith the market has placed in us. … I really feel like the valuation we have right now is more than we have any right we have to deserve, honestly. … We need to make sure we really knock the ball out of the park over the coming years.”