The green growth dreams at Tesla can blind many small investors. However, there is only a fine line between vision and illusion.
Hardly any other share is currently as popular as that of Tesla. Since the beginning of the year alone, the price at which the securities of the Californian electric car pioneer are traded has more than tripled. Tesla’s market capitalization is currently around $270 billion. This makes the group by far the most valuable vehicle manufacturer in the world.
The dizzying fireworks display at Tesla means that a share now costs almost $1,500. Too much, the company itself now announces and wants to split the shares at the end of the month. Each investor should then receive four more share certificates as dividends for each paper. This does not change the company value, but the price per security is reduced to less than 300 dollars at the current price.
The highlight: The entry barrier for investors is lower. The automaker hopes that even more small investors will be able to participate in the Tesla stock market frenzy. Many responded euphorically to the announcement. Tesla shares again increased noticeably. Small investors in particular would be well advised to study the facts at Tesla more intensively. The group, under the leadership of the dazzling entrepreneur Elon Musk, knows how to spark green growth dreams. But vision and illusion are close together.
The group still owes the proof that it can generate sustainable profits on its own. Currently, a large part of the contribution margins does not come from the core business, but from the sale of emission certificates to other car manufacturers, which thus improve their carbon footprint. In the first half of the year, Tesla received $782 million through such certificates.
But this source of income is finite. After all, all vehicle manufacturers have their own electric cars in the pipeline. A huge electricity offensive is rolling out in industry. From 2021, one model after the other will hit the streets – even with the sleepy German brands.
This is the first time that Tesla is really facing competition. Driving in luxury electric is no longer a unique selling point. Worse still: While sales of electric cars in Western Europe increased by more than a third in the first half of the year, those of Tesla fell by 18 percent. The Californian market share is shrinking.
Admittedly, Tesla can continue to grow in China, and the Americans are still the measure of all things when it comes to software. But the lead is by no means impossible to catch. And the group is certainly not worth more than all the major European and American car manufacturers combined.
