Tesla briefly became the most valuable carmaker following stock surge

In context: Automakers have struggled as of late due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but things are slowly starting to return to normalcy now. Indeed, after sorting out some pandemic-related issues with local officials, Tesla has restarted production on its line of EVs, and its stock price has rallied as a result.

As of writing, Tesla’s stock sits at a whopping $1,015 per share, giving it a market capitalization of $174.47 billion. However, earlier this morning, it managed to reach a market cap of $185 billion, which temporarily made it the most valuable automaker in the world, surpassing even Toyota by a few billion dollars, according to TheStreet.

Of course, given the always-fluctuating nature of the stock market, it was inevitable that Tesla would lose that briefly-held crown. Now, its value is back down to $174.47 billion, with Toyota once again reigning supreme in the industry thanks to its market cap of $182.87 billion.

For reference, the last time Tesla’s stock even came close to reaching the $1,000-a-share mark was February, and it quickly sank the following month. However, the stock has been rapidly recovering, with share values climbing roughly $200 in the past 30 days along (up from $820 on May 10).

This stock surge suggests investors are demonstrating renewed confidence in Tesla’s ability to right the ship following a couple months of Covid-19-related production hang-ups. Of course, it’s also possible that CEO Elon Musk’s recently-leaked Tesla Semi memo contributed to the carmaker’s increased stock value.

In the memo, Musk pushes for employees to accelerate Tesla Semi development in the hopes of reaching “volume production” on the vehicle soon.

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