Tesla overtakes Facebook to become fifth most valuable US company

Tesla now commands a bigger market valuation than social-media giant Facebook Inc, with the latest jolt to the electric-vehicle maker’s share price coming from the capitulation of a long-time Wall Street bear on Thursday.

Shares of Tesla jumped as much as 5.6 per cent in opening trade on Friday, pushing the electric-car maker's market capitalisation to more than $800 billion for the first time ever and inching closer to the trillion dollar club.

Elon Musk-led Tesla has been on a stunning run over the past year, recording a 743 per cent gain in its stock in 2020 as the company blew past several key milestones, got added to the S&P 500 Index and benefited from a growing view among consumers and market watchers that electric cars will dominate the future auto industry.

Tesla shares are on a 10-day winning streak, the longest since April and only the second time since its 2010 initial public offering it’s gained so many days in a row.

That relentless surge has forced Wall Street into a perpetual game of catch-up, with analysts’ average price target still far below the current stock price.