Elon Musk, billionaire investor and CEO of EV (electric vehicle) maker Tesla (TSLA), says that Tesla has the potential to become the most valuable listed company in the world. Musk believes that Tesla can outrun the likes of Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL) in the race to become the largest trillion dollar valued listed player globally. Tesla has the ability to be the number one, and that too by a “large margin,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X while replying to a post on the most valuable companies in the world by market capitalization.
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With a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion as of January 23, Tesla currently stands at the eight position in the list. The leader in the race is semiconductor company Nvidia, with a $3.6 trillion valuation, followed closely by Apple, with a $3.4 trillion market cap. So far, Tesla’s highest valuation has been $1.5 trillion, less than half of that of Nvidia and Apple. TSLA shares reached their all-time high of $488.54 on December 17, 2024, backed by Musk’s close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and the optimism about his growing influence on the administration’s policies.
Musk’s Growing Ambitions for Tesla
Musk’s growing ambitions for Tesla include clearing the hurdles for the autonomous vehicle (AV) landscape. Tesla unveiled its Cybercab last year to compete in the highly regulated robotaxi market, which is already dominated by Waymo, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) subsidiary.
Additionally, Tesla’s FSD (full self-driving) ambition has not yet materialized completely, as the vehicle still requires human attention. Under the Trump administration, Musk and several other ambitious businessmen are expected to receive at least some regulatory loosening in the areas of autonomous driving and AI (artificial intelligence). Last year, Musk also unveiled the humanoid robot Optimus, which is expected to perform factory tasks efficiently. Optimus is expected to go into commercial sales in 2026.
Interestingly, many Wall Street analysts remain highly optimistic about Tesla and Musk’s growth ambitions under the new administration. Recently, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives assigned a new Street-High price target of $550 on TSLA stock, implying 33.4% upside potential. Ives also believes that both Tesla and Musk are entering their “golden era” with Trump in the Presidential seat. The five-star analyst expects favorable policies toward self-driving and AI, which will be highly beneficial for Tesla. He sees Tesla reaching $2 trillion in valuation by the end of 2025.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Not all analysts share the same enthusiasm for Tesla stock as Ives since the company’s EV deliveries have been underperforming. Overall, Wall Street prefers to remain on the sidelines until the regulatory dust settles and the uptick in EV demand is visible.
On TipRanks, TSLA stock has a Hold consensus rating based on 13 Buys, 12 Holds, and nine Sell ratings. The average Tesla price target of $329.63 implies 20.1% downside potential from current levels. Meanwhile,TSLA shares have zoomed over 98% in the past year.