In just 12 trading days, the world’s investors lifted the value of a midsize player in a generally slogging, heavy-metal- bending business by nearly $400 billion. As far as this writer can tell, Tesla notched the biggest dollar jump in market cap, in that brief a period, in the annals of equities. Tesla’s stock went on a tear after it unveiled strong Q3 earnings on Oct. 20. Two days later, its valuation crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time. Then, news of an agreement to sell 100,000 EVs to Hertz propelled a one-day gain of 13% to $1,025 a share. Momentum from a “contract” that CEO Elon Musk dismisses as having “zero effect on our economics” boosted Tesla to an all-time record close of $1,209 on Nov. 1. In a week plus two business days, Tesla’s market value mushroomed from $818 billion to $1.21 trillion, for an increase of roughly $392 billion.
The four previous members of the trillion-dollar club that Tesla just joined have also enjoyed huge, sudden spurts in market cap in raging bull market for tech and social media over the past year. Although Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet all started at valuations of over $1 trillion 12 months ago, well above Tesla’s level when it began the almost $400 billion rampage, none of their spikes matched Tesla’s stupendous surge. Keep in mind we’re talking about an enterprise that sales-wise is one-quarter the size of Microsoft, less than one-fifth of Alphabet, one-eighth of Apple, and one-tenth of Amazon.
The other trillion-dollar players garnered big leaps, but nothing like Tesla’s moonshot
From this reporter’s research, no other company comes close to gaining $392 billion in 12 trading days. To measure Tesla’s feat, however, let’s look at the biggest upswings, even if they happened over a longer time frame. The closest competitor is apparently Apple’s 17% run from June 7 to July 19 of this year. That march swelled the iPhone maker’s cap to $2.4 billion––but took almost three times as long, and fell short by around $50 billion. Apple had another strong ramp-up over 15 trading days from March 22 to April 12, adding 11%, or $220 billion.
Microsoft’s closest liftoffs came over the 20 days from Sept. 27 to Oct. 25, when it advanced by 11.4%, adding $225 billion, and a 15% increase over the 15 days from Jan. 11 to Feb. 8, when it gained $240 billion. As for Amazon, its best episode was a 9.4% takeoff in nine days bridging June 21 and July 5 that hiked its valuation by $165 billion. Alphabet got its quickest super-boost from March 22 to April 26, a span of 25 days, when its shares sprinted almost 18%, tacking $240 billion to its market cap.
On Nov. 1, Musk shocked the markets by tweeting that although Hertz had issued a press release announcing the sale, drawing cheers from Wall Street, he “had to emphasize” that the parties hadn’t signed a contract. That left open to question whether the sale will actually happen. Tesla’s shares dropped, but not by much. As of the close on Nov. 2, they had retreated just 3.1% from the summit. That erased $12 billion from the $392 billion, 12-day advance. Even after that modest selloff, Tesla still ranks first for a 14-day spree. Tesla has set a record for the trillion-dollar club. It’s also setting the club record for great, if not impossible, expectations.
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