Tesla Still Worth 16 Times More Than Ford

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Oct 14, 7:21AM EDT · Published Oct 12, 9:57AM EDT

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Tesla Still Worth 16 Times More Than Ford — © Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc / Getty Images

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Even with shares in retreat, Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) market cap is much greater than Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F).
Many investors think of Tesla as an AI company while Ford isn’t.
Also: Dividend legends to hold forever.

Even with a 9% drop in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock due to disappointment in its robotaxi unveiling, the company’s market cap is $696 billion, compared to Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) $43 billion. That means Tesla is worth 16 times more than Ford.

Tesla’s robotaxi event showed what investors thought was too little about its plans and their effect on revenue. Its new Cybercab seats two people and may be priced at about $30,000. But it will not be available until 2026, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he sometimes misses deadlines. He also showed a Robovan that can carry as many as 20 people.

Musk should have shown a huge leap forward in artificial intelligence-managed self-driving, considered the next revolution in transportation. Ferocious competition comes from Google’s Waymo, GM’s Cruise, and products from several Chinese EV makers.

Tesla’s market cap still stems from its status as an AI company, at least in the eyes of some investors. Musk says Tesla has gathered millions of miles of data about America’s roads, much of it video. Musk can reasonably point out that he owns one of the largest AI companies in the world, xAI. Tesla’s “full self-driving” mode remains one of the most advanced in the car industry. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang says, “Tesla is far ahead in self-driving cars.”

On the other hand, Ford has found it almost impossible to convince investors it is much more than a legacy car company. According to several sources, it loses nearly $100,000 on each EV it sells. It cannot be said that it is close to the cutting edge of driving technology. It remains a fossil fuel engine manufacturer.

Tesla still holds a considerable lead in market cap value compared to legacy car companies. If Musk can prove that he can build the ultimate AI-driven vehicles, that lead will hold.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.