Electric carmaker Tesla sees $500B market value

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Tesla’s market valuation hit $500 billion Tuesday for the first time.

The company’s stock price hit $527.48 per share at 9.47 EDT (1447GMT) on the Nasdaq, taking the company to historic heights, while shares traded at $540 at 10.25 EDT (1525GMT) with a 3.4% gain.

The US electric carmaker, energy storage and clean energy company in January became the first $100 billion publicly listed American carmaker when shares started rallying with market value increasing more than fivefold since that time.

October was critical for the firm as it reported a fifth consecutive quarter of profits during July-September. It also announced it delivered 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter -- a record for the company.

The rocket increase in shares also helped CEO Elon Musk move up the Forbes' real-time billionaires list.

Musk passed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and business tycoon Warren Buffett for fourth spot on the list. His $112 billion net worth is closing in on Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' $118 billion.

Tesla is set to move Monday, Dec. 21 from the Nasdaq to join the S&P 500, which partially contributed to the historic rise of its stock price.

The three major US indexes opened higher as home prices rose 6.6% in September, from the same period last year, to mark their largest annual increase since April 2018, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index report.

The Dow Jones was at 29,974 points, up 1.3% at 10.25 EDT (1525 GMT), while the S&P 500 was at 3,609 points, rising 0.9%. The Nasdaq was at 11,910 points with a 0.25% rise.

Optimism in the markets was also fueled by President-elect Joe Biden naming former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Monday as incoming Treasury Secretary.