Elon Musk again claims one day Tesla will get bigger than Apple is today

AppleInsider · October 20, 2022 12:04AM

During Tesla's third-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk is re-upping previous claims that the company could at some point "far exceed Apple's current market cap."

Credit: Tesla

Tesla announced quarterly earnings after the bell on Wednesday. While Tesla didn't meet its revenue expectations for Q3 2022, it did beat its own earnings expectations.

After the results were released, Musk announced that the company's board discussed a share buyback program of between $5 to $10 billion. However, the plan hasn't been finalized yet.

Musk also discussed Tesla's valuation -- which currently sits at $700 billion.

"A while ago," Musk said on Wednesday, "I said on an earnings call that I thought it was possible for Tesla to be worth more than Apple, which was worth $700 billion at the time."

A "while ago" refers to May 2017. Apple was worth $772 billion when the remark was made, and Tesla trailed at $51 billion. Apple is now valued at $2.3 trillion and is currently considered the most valuable company in the world.

"Now I'm of the opinion that we can far exceed Apple's current market cap," he continued. "I see a path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined."

Saudi Aramco, a petroleum and natural gas company, has a current value of $2 trillion. In May, the company briefly surpassed Apple as the most valuable company in the world.

Tesla's stock is down more than 5% after Wednesday's earnings call. It started the year at $399.93 and is not presently at the year-low, but isn't far away from it, amidst a large tech stock contraction.

Musk has most recently been in the financial and tech news for his on-again, off-again Twitter deal. At present, it appears that the new terms of the deal may be completed soon -- but a chancery court deadline for the package is approaching.

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red oak · October 20, 2022 12:09AM

What kind of CEO says something like this on their earnings call? A clown

Tesla's heading down to $100 share

edited October 2022

wood1208 · October 20, 2022 12:57AM

I respect Elon Musk but he is becoming promise big but not fulfil. $30K EV, Million mile battery, going to Mars and what not. Every vehicle manufacturer in world coming after Tesla EV and coming fast. What if Apple decide to go all in EV, than what ?

robin huber · October 20, 2022 1:00AM

Following Elon Musk’s statements is only slightly more useful than following Kanye West’s (or whatever he’s calling himself this week).

nyc362 · October 20, 2022 1:17AM

First, it really is a bit ridiculous for a company official to make statements like that on earning report.

Second, what is really the future for Tesla?

Here's my two cents:

There is no doubt the company was a trailblazer in electric cars. They really showed the world that an EV with a decent range was possible for a price that not only the super rich could afford. With that in hand, Tesla grew and grew. They were the EV company.

But things are starting to change.

Competition: Ford, GM, Kia, Volkswagen, etc have the money and are starting to produce EVs that are more affordable than a Tesla. I always thought my next car was going to be a Model Y. But since it first came out, the price has soared. I can no longer afford such a car. On the road, I'm starting to see Rivians. Today, I saw a Lucid. I've seen more Ionic EVs than I can count. Sure, there are still more Teslas out there, but the landscape is changing.

Quality control: In the rush to build as many cars as possible, I read reports all over the place of quality issues with Teslas. I'm not talking about not ready for prime time software, I mean body panels that don't fit well; paint jobs that are below standard, etc. That is not a way to attract customers

Finally, Musk himself. Sure, there are people who love the brash, no hold barred CEO, but many people do not like it. His possible purchase of Twitter is truly rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. There is no doubt it is turning off at least some customers.

I doubt Tesla will go out of business or see its stock fall to $50, but overtake Apple in market cap. Unless something major happens, I just do not see how that is even remotely possible.

jfc_pa · October 20, 2022 1:57AM

Tesla’s earnings are 1/3 of Toyota. Yawn.

jdw · October 20, 2022 2:30AM

This story puts Musk's claims in perspective...
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/10/19/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-actor-glenn-howerton-mad-at-tesla/

Musk needs to solve some pretty significant problems like that before his company has any hope of besting Apple one day.

macminion · October 20, 2022 3:43AM

The earnings call sounded like Elon and his CFO just had a liquid lunch. They were playing off each other like a frat house party. Hence, reason for the wild statements?

slurpy · October 20, 2022 4:14AM

Musk has been shitting on Apple and saying this shit for more than a decade. He's a narcissistic clown, and his words are meaningless. This is coming from someone who likes Teslas. He's just always seemed to have this weird, envious obsession with Apple.

edited October 2022

skeptical · October 20, 2022 4:45AM

red oak said:

What kind of CEO says something like this on their earnings call? A clown

Tesla's heading down to $100 share

Please stop giving this serial moron air.

madbum · October 20, 2022 6:58AM

That would be good for America

pwrmac · October 20, 2022 8:09AM

Elon, now the voice of Putin .. In al couple of years time Tesla will be decimated by other major car companies.

dymmas · October 20, 2022 9:51AM

Tesla can't even refund me my Cybertruck deposit...

blastdoor · October 20, 2022 10:39AM

NYC362 said:

First, it really is a bit ridiculous for a company official to make statements like that on earning report.

Second, what is really the future for Tesla?

Here's my two cents:

There is no doubt the company was a trailblazer in electric cars. They really showed the world that an EV with a decent range was possible for a price that not only the super rich could afford. With that in hand, Tesla grew and grew. They were the EV company.

But things are starting to change.

Competition: Ford, GM, Kia, Volkswagen, etc have the money and are starting to produce EVs that are more affordable than a Tesla. I always thought my next car was going to be a Model Y. But since it first came out, the price has soared. I can no longer afford such a car. On the road, I'm starting to see Rivians. Today, I saw a Lucid. I've seen more Ionic EVs than I can count. Sure, there are still more Teslas out there, but the landscape is changing.

Quality control: In the rush to build as many cars as possible, I read reports all over the place of quality issues with Teslas. I'm not talking about not ready for prime time software, I mean body panels that don't fit well; paint jobs that are below standard, etc. That is not a way to attract customers

Finally, Musk himself. Sure, there are people who love the brash, no hold barred CEO, but many people do not like it. His possible purchase of Twitter is truly rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. There is no doubt it is turning off at least some customers.

I doubt Tesla will go out of business or see its stock fall to $50, but overtake Apple in market cap. Unless something major happens, I just do not see how that is even remotely possible.

Great post, I totally agree.

Musk fancies himself in the same league as Steve Jobs (actually I’m sure musk thinks he’s better), but I think the difference in communication styles is more than superficial. Jobs was a disciplined, precise, persuasive communicator. Musk is undisciplined, sloppy, and off-putting. I think both men’s styles are representative of their minds.

crowley · October 20, 2022 11:02AM

Tesla would have to take over almost the entire global automotive industry to exceed Apple's current market cap. Good luck with that.

dewme · October 20, 2022 11:09AM

Did he qualify his claim with “for Mars based companies?”

Elon likes to say a lot about a lot of things. Whether it’s opinion, truth, bullshit, lies, or just an unfiltered spew from his brain does not really matter. This is simply what he does to keep the media spotlight on the most important thing in his world: himself.

blastdoor · October 20, 2022 11:24AM

pwrmac said:

Elon, now the voice of Putin .. In al couple of years time Tesla will be decimated by other major car companies.

Predicting the timing is tough but I agree a fall is coming. Musk is absolutely toxic to many people who would otherwise be interested in his products. He’s like Zuckerberg in that way. But unlike Facebook, Tesla isn’t protected by strong network effects (the charging network is weak tea compared to the network effects that protect Facebook, and the government is actively working to create a broader charging network).

The best thing for everybody would be for Musk to go to jail or otherwise lose control of his companies. At this point they would be better off without him

ravnorodom · October 20, 2022 12:38PM

Now I understand why White House did not invite Elon over EV conference.

lkrupp · October 20, 2022 12:46PM

Trash Musk if you like but so far Space X is the only way American astronauts can get to the ISS other than aboard a Russian rocket. Boeing’s Starliner is still in the testing stages. As for EVs, Tesla is the progenitor of the class. Yes, the big car makers will eclipse Tesla at some point but they will do it on the backs of Tesla’s pioneering efforts. Like Jobs did for personal computing, Musk showed the way on both EVs and reusable rockets. Also like Jobs, Musk is a quirky character with an ego the size of Mount Rushmore.

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much."

thinkman100000000 · October 20, 2022 1:41PM

Musk may be right, but certainly not with him at the helm. His lies and manipulations of the economy, politics, finance, Tesla, FSD, Solar City, and anything that keeps him ahead of the disastrous ex-prez in the 24-hour god-awful news cycle are what Mr. Loose-cannon lives for. Tweet, tweet.

foregoneconclusion · October 20, 2022 1:42PM

lkrupp said:

Trash Musk if you like but so far Space X is the only way American astronauts can get to the ISS other than aboard a Russian rocket. Boeing’s Starliner is still in the testing stages. As for EVs, Tesla is the progenitor of the class. Yes, the big car makers will eclipse Tesla at some point but they will do it on the backs of Tesla’s pioneering efforts. Like Jobs did for personal computing, Musk showed the way on both EVs and reusable rockets. Also like Jobs, Musk is a quirky character with an ego the size of Mount Rushmore.

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much."

Tesla weren't really pioneers for rockets or electric vehicles. They had some good first-to-market ideas for commercializing those technologies in years past but didn't really possess anything on the tech side that was all that unique. That's why competitors can catch up or surpass them when they actually apply themselves to do so. Tesla looks fairly stagnant right now.

Elon Musk again claims one day Tesla will get bigger than Apple is today

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