Tesla‘s market value deserves to be twice the combined value of General Motors and Ford, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said before Tuesday’s Wall Street open.
At that point, the “Mad Money” host said he would reevaluate.
However, shortly after the open, Tesla stock almost got there.
Shares of the electric auto maker opened at nearly $883 per share, and then raced to an all-time intraday high of $940, hitting a market cap of about $165 billion.
The combined market cap of GM and Ford after Tuesday’s open was about $85 billion.
Cramer said Tesla is a technology company, “and you got to value it like a technology company now.” Tech companies generally trade at much high price-to-earnings ratios than car companies.
Tesla trades at a multiple of over 80 times, while GM and Ford trade at multiples in the high single-digits.
Shares of Tesla closed nearly 20% higher on Monday, its biggest one-day gain in six years. The stock has gained about 235% in the past six months.
Cramer used to be relatively skeptical of Tesla, but his outlook turned more positive toward the company late last year, due largely to the wishes of his wife, Lisa, who wanted a Model X sport utility vehicle.
“I give up. The car is too damn great,” Cramer said then.
Cramer has only become more bullish since then, especially after Tesla’s Shanghai, China, factory opened in 10 months. He recently said Tesla’s success was reminiscent of the early days of Amazon and Netflix.
Since Dec. 11, the day Cramer said he had officially turned bullish, shares of Tesla have risen by more than $500.
“I’m still on board. I haven’t left it. It’s been 500 points since I started,” Cramer said on Tuesday. “A lot of people feel that I am late. I don’t know if I’m late and I get 500 points, I’m kind of happy.”
The recent rip higher in Tesla shares is being driven by analysts raising price targets to catch up to the market and short-covering by investors betting against the shares.
Billionaire investor Ron Baron, a major Tesla shareholder, told CNBC earlier Tuesday that he believes the company has the potential to hit “at least” $1 trillion in revenue in 10 years and continue to grow from there.
Last week, Tesla reported revenue of $24.6 billion in 2019.