# Why is Tesla's market cap so high? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 13, 2024, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594 "2024-12-13T06:09:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/321 "2026-10-18T01:03:48Z")
Yes but if I believe in the misinformation hard enough and long enough it eventually becomes religious dogma. I still can’t find a good answer. You can add spaceX to this question too. Other companies are doing what spaceX does (reusable rockets, LEO satellites, etc) and their market cap isn’t anywhere near what spaceX is. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/322 "2026-10-18T01:10:30Z")
We had plenty of examples of this in the late 90s. Are they Amazon or pets .com? It’s speculation. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/323 "2026-10-18T01:36:53Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Are they Amazon or pets .com? It’s speculation. Exactly, it’s speculation. Tesla’s $1.4T market cap is way outside any fundamentals. It’s not the first company to be over-valued even if it is the most extreme example. The stock market has never been rational. I’m not sure what there is to debate here though. Why is it valued so high? A serving of fundamentals, a huge helping of speculation, with a side of FOMA. Is there anyone that feels Tesla is priced right – that it’s _not_ over-valued? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/324 "2026-10-18T01:44:10Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Is there anyone that feels Tesla is priced right – that it’s _not_ over-valued? 60 million shares trade hands every day, so people keep buying it at the current prices. So the buyers feel its worth it. I guess I can’t understand their motivation. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/325 "2026-10-18T01:46:41Z")
They’re gamblers, fan boys, trying to time the market or think that it’s still a good long term value. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/326 "2026-10-18T02:18:26Z")
Sorry, my question was vague. I was asking if there are any Dopers that think it is _not_ over-valued. It’s hard to have a debate on the OP if everyone here agrees it is. A lot of the discussion in the thread boils down to “Tesla isn’t worth $1.4T” and I think everyone here agrees with that. This is why I appreciated @hajario 's posts in this thread. He’s been pushing back on the assertions that Tesla is doomed. Personally I need that kind of reality check. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 60 million shares trade hands every day, so people keep buying it at the current prices. So the buyers feel its worth it. Not really. The buyers think they can sell it and make money – maybe tomorrow, maybe before the closing bell, maybe in 10 milliseconds. Trading doesn’t mean you believe in the company, the market cap, the fundamentals; it just means you think you can use it to make money. It’s been going up steadily for 6 years. I suspect a lot of people want to get on-board in case it goes up 7, or 8, or 10 years. While at the same time thinking that they can always get out if it starts heading down – even if they might lose a bit. That’s speculation in a nutshell. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/327 "2026-10-18T02:34:55Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > I was asking if there are any Dopers that think it is _not_ over-valued. I do not think any stocks are over or under valued. They are valued at the market price. P.S. There might be some stocks that are temporally over or under valued because of insider trading, or insiders being able to buy a new issue at a different price from the general public. But at this moment, I wouldn’t think Tesla falls in that category, even though it may from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594/328 "2026-10-18T03:06:06Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > You can add spaceX to this question too. Other companies are doing what spaceX does (reusable rockets, LEO satellites, etc) and their market cap isn’t anywhere near what spaceX is. Two things. First, other companies are not doing what SpaceX does. 81% of _all_ payload mass to orbit globally in 2025 went to orbit on top of a Falcon 9. The next highest launch platform was Atlas V at 3%. Zero payloads were launched on reusable rockets apart from Falcon 9, unless you count New Glenn’s second flight where the booster was recovered. Blue Origin is yet to refly a New Glenn booster, however, so I don’t think that counts yet. They’ll almost certainly get there eventually. Rocketlabs may too, but Electron is tiny and comparing them to SpaceX is like comparing a local Mom & Pop courier company to UPS. Second, SpaceX also has a ridiculous P/E ratio and for it not to be massively overpriced the tall tales about orbital data centres and massive AI-based earnings would have to be true, which they almost certainly are not. But SpaceX really is head and shoulders (and torso and most of the legs) above other launch companies, something which is no longer true of Tesla vis a vis other EV makers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-teslas-market-cap-so-high/1011594.md?page=16)