Shares of Tesla Inc increased past the $2,000 mark on Thursday for the first time as the electric automaker broadened its recent rally ahead of an upcoming share split.
The company’s stock closed at a record high $2,001.83, increasing 6.6% for the day.
With many investors putting their bets on Tesla will be added to the S&P 500 following a strong quarterly report last month, the stock has increased over 300% in 2020, with the CEO Elon Musk becoming fourth-richest person of the world.
The stock has increased 45% just since August 11, when Tesla declared a five-for-one stock split, with shareholders of record on August 21 getting four additional shares for each share they own, distributed following the close of trading on August 28.
Thursday’s boost put Tesla’s stock market value at $372 billion, higher than all but seven of the S&P 500’s components.
Tesla’s stock is one of the highest-priced, per share, on Wall Street, and the Palo Alto, California-based company has stated it was looking to make its shares more accessible to workers and investors.
However, brokerages including Robinhood increasingly letting customers by fractions of individual shares, the advantage of stock splits have become less obvious, making Tesla’s rally after the announcement of its stock split surprising to some experienced investors.
Tesla’s stock is priced at an exceedingly high 148 times expected earnings at this moment, according to Refinitiv, and that valuation will not be impacted by the upcoming stock split.
Tesla will start producing their made-in-China Model Y vehicles at its factory in Shanghai starting in 2021, the Chinese media outlet Global Times tweeted on Thursday, citing an unnamed executive.
Investors expect important announcements when the automaker holds its long-awaited Battery Day on September 22, the same day as its annual shareholder meeting.
The company is expected to discuss battery innovations, with analysts at Morgan Stanley predicting a company announcement on providing “superior” battery packs to the market.
