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

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."

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.

38 Comments

red oak 1104 comments · 13 Years

About 2 years ago

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

Tesla's heading down to $100 share

wood1208 2929 comments · 10 Years

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 4019 comments · 22 Years

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

NYC362 100 comments · 4 Years

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.