The Tesla effect on investors

Thousands of stocks are listed on stock exchanges around the world, and the number is constantly changing. 

The global stock market has a turnover of $60 trillion, and of that, nearly 50% is accounted for by the US stock market. 

The podium of the world’s largest companies is quite predictable. Big tech, specifically Apple (AAPL) with nearly $400 billion, Saudi Arabia Oil with $346.5 billion and Microsoft (MSFT) with $184.9 billion. 

These huge companies, represent only a very small part of the entire global basket of stocks, which has more than 630,000 companies listed on stock exchanges around the world. 

Tesla is the most beloved stock among European investors

Research conducted by CMC Markets sheds light on the most sought-after listed companies for each European country. 

CMC Markets points out that Elon Musk‘s company is in all but three of the countries that make up the European Union. Tesla comes out as the most searched company on Google, the most widely used search engine on the web. 

This should not be surprising for a number of reasons, though at first glance the figure turns out to be really relevant. 

Tesla has a huge brand reputation. Not only does it represent the largest EV (electric car) company in the world, but it also stands to be one of the leading companies for the supply and storage of electricity through its columns, charging stations, etc. 

The field of communications is also no different. For some time now, the American company has been setting up the Starlink project, through which it has set out to provide an optimal line of connection in all areas of the world, even the most inaccessible ones, succeeding greatly in its goal. 

Starlink was also successfully used in the recent war in Ukraine, when Russia had left the buffer state without any connection. It was precisely a donation from Musk that had complied with this unfortunate problem. 

In terms of defense and aerospace research or in artificial intelligence, the Cali-Texan company has also made great strides such as, for example, the advent of its rockets with a research department it shares with SpaceX and on self-driving cabs. 

In essence, the company has exploded and in the collective imagination represents the future of man, clinging to a kind of man-progress correlation. 

Second quarter results 

The company’s recent quarterly report confirmed and indeed exceeded the expectations of analysts and the company itself. 

Revenues increased 42% to $16.9 billion and this was partly due to higher realized prices of Model Y and other models of the brand, which increased as a percentage to recover the effect of inflation.

Operating income was unaffected by the logistics problems and increased to $2.5 billion (+88%).

The long-term closure of the Shanghai Gigafactory due to lockdowns created quite a few problems. However, during Q2, the EV champion company produced 25% more Model Y and 20% more Model X.

Liquidity was Tesla’s real Achilles’ heel, but this too was remedied and it grew more than twice as fast, from $6.8 billion to $14.5 billion, improving profitability and reducing debt obligations.

The increase is due to the sale of 75% of the Bitcoin held by the company, which corresponds to $936 million. The choice was due to the uncertain policies of the Chinese government, which appears to be very interventionist on the pandemic side and is subject to continuous lockdowns that would cause large losses for Musk. 

The Shanghai gigafactory had already experienced shutdowns, but the problem was solved momentarily by increased production at its counterpart in Berlin. 

The only figure that bucked the trend was the gross margin, which fell from 32.9% in the first quarter to 27.9% in the second. 

Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial persona increasingly attracts investors 

What’s more, the histrionic and communicative character of its CEO contributes in no small part to its attractiveness in the eyes of the masses, because Elon Musk‘s character is liked as much as his entrepreneurial and genius persona. 

The other two companies covered in the ranking compiled by CMC Markets are AMC Entertainment Holdings, which is going for the most in Germany and Denmark, and GameStop in Croatia. 

These two companies fall into the so-called group of Meme Stocks, i.e., all those publicly traded companies that are characterized by high volatility and see their value increase not so much because of their fundamentals or investments made, but because they are the subject of strong speculation and fad of the moment. 

Tesla Motors, that was the original name of the company, was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Then Elon Musk joined with large amounts of capital the following year. 

Musk’s revolutionary ideas, capital, and skills earned him the presidency until 2018, when he had to step down over a technical issue while continuing to hold the position of CEO. 

In essence, Tesla represents the company that catalyzes the attention of 24 out of 27 European countries, and the trend seems to see no end.