Elon Musk says Tesla could be worth ‘more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined’
Dimitrios Kambouris

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Muskâs bullishness on his companyâs stock was certainly not dented by a disappointing earnings result on Wednesday evening.
For the Austin-based automaker's third quarter, shipping challenges hampered deliveries and led to revenue missing the analyst consensus. Margins also came in lighter than anticipated as CFO Zachary Kirkhorn cited âraw materials, logistics and foreign exchangeâ as the biggest headwinds hitting the automaker in Q3.
Shares of the worldâs most valuable automaker slid over 6% in early trading on Thursday, trending toward a 52-week low marked on Friday, October 14.
Still, CEO Elon Musk remained characteristically exuberant on the long-term trajectory of the company. Lamenting his belief that âmarket themes revolve around the short term,â he voiced his confidence in the companyâs ability to continue to deliver value for shareholders. Pointing to past performance as an indicator, Musk said he sees a path for the auto manufacturer to become the most valuable company in the world.
âIâm of the opinion that we can far exceed Appleâs current market cap,â Musk told analysts. âIn fact, I see a potential path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined.â
That growth would imply an over $4T market cap for Tesla (TSLA). While he added that the path to this valuation will be âvery difficult,â he doubled down and indicated that he believes his company could be worth âroughly twice the value of Saudi Aramco. Musk said during Wednesdayâs earnings call that this is the first time he has foreseen this potential.
While the call was met with understandable skepticism on Wednesday, Musk has previously made good on bullish promises. For example, he proclaimed in 2015 that the automaker would exceed a $700B valuation. At the time, the company was worth only about $25B.
In terms of promises Elon Musk has yet to make good on, the Tesla semi, full-self driving, and Cybertruck have long been glaring examples. The semi truck was first unveiled in November 2017 with production slated for 2019. Meanwhile, the Cybertruck made its on-stage debut in late 2019 with a promise to be available for sale by 2021. Finally, a long history of âfully autonomousâ promises from Musk was perhaps best exemplified by the April 2019 declaration that 1M robotaxis would be on the road by the end of 2020.
However, the Tesla (TSLA) frontman offered yet more commentary on the subjects on Wednesday, remaining optimistic on many of these fronts.
âWeâre in the final lap for Cybertruck,â Musk said. âWeâre building a Cybertruck line here at Giga Texas and making a lot of progress in the robotaxi platform design.â
Early production of the Cybertruck was slated for mid-2023. Meanwhile, Musk reiterated that Tesla Semis are set for delivery to Pepsi on December 1. For autonomous driving, Musk was extremely confident in the safety of the FSD Beta rollout. 
âThe safety that weâre seeing when the car is in FSD mode is actually significantly greater than the safety weâre seeing when it is not, which is a key threshold for going to a wide Beta,â he told analysts on Wednesday.
The automaker has been selling a âfull-self drivingâ add-on since 2016, charging customers up to $10K at the time for the stated capability. 
âIn ~2 years, summon should work anywhere connected by land & not blocked by borders, eg you're in LA and the car is in NY,â Elon Musk tweeted in January 2016. 
The price tag for the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package was hiked to $15K. As of October 2022, the smart summon comes with the disclaimer that it may only be used âon parking lots and driveways located on private property where the surrounding area is familiar and predictable.â Tesla specifically warns against its use on public roads.
Read the earnings call transcript.