Tesla
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Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, revision of 28 Oct 2026.
What stands out
- Sales have grown about 24.6% a year for five years, so each $1 of sales in FY2020 is about $3.01 now.Revenue growth over 5–10 years: +24.6% a year
- Tesla has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 4 of the last 5 years.Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks: 7.2% ROIC
- Tesla holds more cash than it owes, so it could pay off its borrowings today.Net debt ÷ EBITDA or ÷ FCF, plus interest cover: Net cash $37.5B
Worth digging into
- Tesla kept about 5 cents of operating profit from each $1 of sales in FY2025.Operating margin (operating income ÷ revenue): 4.6%
- For every $1 of reported profit over 5 years, about $0.61 turned up as spare cash.Free cash flow (operating cash flow − capex), and FCF ÷ net income: $6.2B
- Price more than 50% above the valuation sheet's middle valuePrice +499% against the sheet's default story, 16 Oct 2026
From filed figures and the weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Observations to check in the tabs below, not advice.
What has the price done?
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Press and drag across the chart to see the change between two points. Source: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Bars are daily and prices are adjusted for splits, not dividends. Past returns don't predict future returns.
Dividends
Full chart
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How does it make money?
What it does
Tesla reports 2 businesses. In FY2025, automotive and services brought in 87% and energy brought in 13% of revenue.
By product, the biggest seller is automotive sales at 69% of revenue, then energy at 13%.
By region, United States made up 50%, then Other international at 28%.
From Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025.
Where the revenue comes from
- Automotive and services87%
- Energy13%
Shares of revenue, FY2025. Source: Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025.
How it makes money
Where Tesla's FY2025 revenue came from, what it cost to earn, and what was left for shareholders.
- Income
- Costs and tax
- Profit
- % = share of revenue
Source: Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025 (29 Jan 2026), statement of operations, Notes 2 and 16. FY2025 is the year to 31 Dec 2025. Figures as reported, in US$ millions in the tooltips and table.
Technical: gross margin was 18.0%, operating margin 4.6% and net margin 4.0%. Operating costs and cost of revenue together took 95.4% of revenue.
Plain: of every dollar of sales, about 82 cents paid for making or delivering what was sold, about 13 cents went on running and growing the business, and about 4 cents ended up as profit for shareholders.
Revenue by product
Revenue by business
Revenue by region
See the numbers
| FY2025 | US$M | % of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 94,827 | 100.0% |
| Cost of revenue | −77,733 | 82.0% |
| Gross profit | 17,094 | 18.0% |
| Research and development | −6,411 | 6.8% |
| Selling, general and administrative | −5,834 | 6.2% |
| Restructuring and other | −494 | 0.5% |
| Operating income | 4,355 | 4.6% |
| Other income (expense), net | 923 | 1.0% |
| Profit before tax | 5,278 | 5.6% |
| Income tax | −1,423 | 1.5% |
| Minority interests | −61 | 0.1% |
| Net profit to shareholders | 3,794 | 4.0% |
- Regulatory credits, which Tesla sells to other carmakers, brought in US$1,993M, down 28% on FY2024.
- Tesla reports gross profit, not operating income, by segment: US$13,292M for automotive and services, US$3,802M for energy.
- Tesla assigns revenue by where the products were sold.
History and context
Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures, and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services.
The company was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors. Its name is a tribute to the inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. In February 2004, Elon Musk led Tesla's first funding round and became the company's chairman, subsequently claiming to be a co-founder; in 2008, he was named chief executive officer. The company began production of its first car model, the Roadster sports car, in 2008; the Model S sedan in 2012; the Model X SUV in 2015; the Model 3 sedan in 2017; the Model Y crossover in 2020; the Tesla Semi truck in 2022; and the Cybertruck pickup truck in 2023.
From Wikipedia's article Tesla, Inc., the lead section as of the revision of 28 Oct 2026, retrieved 1 Nov 2026. Text under CC BY-SA 4.0, pronunciation guides removed. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone; the company's own filings are the primary source.
What it actually sells Soon
A product-by-product guide to Tesla: what each one is, who buys it, and how much it brings in, in plain English and in the company's own terms. We're starting with the companies that are hardest to picture, like Broadcom.
Moat rating
Narrow moat
6.8 / 10
ROIC averaged 33.0% over FY2021 to FY2025, 23.7 percentage points above a 9.38% cost of capital, but has fallen every year since FY2022 and dropped below the hurdle at 7.2% in FY2025.
Tesla's five-year average looks strong, but the trend is down. In 2025 it earned less on its capital than that capital costs.
The numbers
9.2 / 10Return on invested capital against cost of capital, autos and trucks
- Average ROIC
- 33.0%
- Average excess return
- +23.7 pp
- Years above the hurdle
- 4 of 5
Spread 10 × 60% + durability 8 × 40% = 9.2
The sources
4.4 / 10Where Tesla's advantage comes from
- 1. Brand and pricing power3 / 10
Automotive sales fell 9% to US$65.8B in 2025 and total revenue fell 3%. Regulatory credit income fell 28%.
Tesla sold fewer dollars' worth of cars in 2025. A company with strong pricing power doesn't usually see that.
- 2. Barriers to entry6 / 10
Building cars and batteries at scale takes factories and years of manufacturing know-how. Research and development was US$6.4B in 2025.
Car making is hard to break into, but plenty of big carmakers already sell electric cars.
- 3. Switching costs3 / 10
A driver can choose another brand at the next purchase; little ties one car to the next beyond software familiarity.
When it's time for a new car, nothing much stops a Tesla owner buying something else.
- 4. Network effects4 / 10
Charging stations and the driving data Tesla collects grow with the number of its cars on the road.
More Teslas on the road help a little, but owners gain little from each other, so it's not enough to lock rivals out.
- 5. Economies of scale6 / 10
Automotive and services earned a 16.2% gross margin in 2025; energy generation and storage earned 29.8% on US$12.8B of revenue.
Tesla makes cars at large scale, and its battery storage business is now growing and more profitable per dollar.
Return on invested capital: Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2021; Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2022; Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2023; Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2024; Tesla, Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025. Hurdle: Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, Cost of capital by sector (US), data as of January 2026.
How we worked out ROIC: operating income after tax, divided by the capital invested at the start of the year. Tax is at the year's effective rate, or the 21% US federal rate where a pre-tax loss or a tax credit makes the effective rate meaningless. Invested capital is shareholders' equity plus borrowings, less cash and short-term investments, from the opening balance sheet in the same 10-K; lease liabilities are left out. This follows Damodaran's definition. The ratios are our calculation from the filed figures, not numbers the company reports. FY2023 uses the 21% rate because Tesla booked a US$5.0B tax credit that year.
Lens scores are rasinbun's judgment, reviewed 19 Oct 2026. A wide moat is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict on the price. For education only. Not financial advice.
How we rate moats ›Is it a good business at a fair price?
What each method implies
Ranges, not targetsThe five questions, and the price
Six checks from the annual reports. A flag marks a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict.
- 1. Is it growing?Within the guide
+24.6% a year
Revenue growth over 5–10 years
Revenue $31.5B in FY2020 to $94.8B in FY2025; +37.1% a year over 10 years. It fell in 1 of the last 5 years.
Sales have grown about 24.6% a year for five years, so each $1 of sales in FY2020 is about $3.01 now.
What to look for Steady growth, not one lucky year.
Source: FY2020 10-K, filed 8 Feb 2021; FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026.
- 2. Is it profitable?Reason to dig deeper
4.6%
Operating margin (operating income ÷ revenue)
FY2025 operating margin. 5-year average 10.0%, range 4.6% to 16.8%.
Tesla kept about 5 cents of operating profit from each $1 of sales in FY2025.
What to look for Stable or rising. It's cleaner than net income, which one-off items and tax can distort.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026.
- 3. Is the profit real cash?Reason to dig deeper
$6.2B
Free cash flow (operating cash flow − capex), and FCF ÷ net income
FY2025 free cash flow: operating cash flow $14.7B less capex $8.5B. Over 5 years FCF was 61% of net income.
For every $1 of reported profit over 5 years, about $0.61 turned up as spare cash.
What to look for FCF positive and growing, and close to net income over time.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026.
- 4. Is it a good business?Within the guide
7.2% ROIC
Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks
FY2025 ROIC. 5-year average 33.0% against a 9.38% cost of capital, autos and trucks; above it in 4 of 5 years.
Tesla has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 4 of the last 5 years.
What to look for Clearly above the cost of capital (roughly 8–10%). Sustained 15%+ usually means a moat.
Source: Our moat rating, Moat tab; Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, January 2026.
- 5. Can it survive a bad year?Within the guide
Net cash $37.5B
Net debt ÷ EBITDA or ÷ FCF, plus interest cover
FY2025 year end: borrowings $6.6B, cash and short-term investments $44.1B. Operating income covers interest 12.9x.
Tesla holds more cash than it owes, so it could pay off its borrowings today.
What to look for Debt payable from about 3 years of FCF or less, interest covered many times.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026.
- 6. Is the price right?
0.4% FCF yield
FCF yield or EV/EBIT, and price against a cash-flow value
Market cap $1.6T. FCF yield 0.4% on FY2025 free cash flow. EV/EBIT 354.0x on FY2025 operating income. The valuation sheet's default story values it at US$29.35–US$98.43 a share (middle US$59.25); at US$354.72, its 16 Oct 2026 price, the price is +498.7% against the middle.
At this price, each $100 of shares comes with about $0.39 of last year's spare cash. On the sheet's default story the price sits above the middle of its value range, by 499%. Change the story and that moves.
What to look for Pay less than a cash-flow value estimate, with a margin of safety.
Source: Price $399.81, Yahoo Finance weekly snapshot, 30 Oct 2026; 3,950M shares, 10-Q 16 Jul 2026; FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026; Stock valuation, 16 Oct 2026.
US figures: each company's Form 10-K as tagged on SEC EDGAR, collected 19 Oct 2026. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment. Borrowings exclude leases. For education only. Not financial advice.
Ten years of financials
FY2016 to FY2025, in US dollars.
Source: Tesla, Form 10-K for each year as first filed, via SEC EDGAR XBRL. Latest: FY2025 10-K, filed 29 Jan 2026. Later restatements aren't applied.
How peers compare
Consumer discretionary names we coverA sector is a loose fit — these are simply the consumer discretionary names whose filings we've loaded, not a hand-picked set.
| Company | Revenue growth, 5y | Operating margin | P/E | EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | +24.6% a year | 4.6% | 370.2x | — |
| AMZN | +13.2% a year | 11.2% | 33.5x | 17.5x |
| MCD | +7.0% a year | 46.1% | 21.6x | 3.1x |
| NKE | +0.8% a year | — | 18.4x | — |
| SBUX | +9.6% a year | 7.9% | 63.6x | 27.8x |
| HD | +4.5% a year | 12.7% | 23.1x | 15.6x |
- Peers' middle-half P/E
- 21.6x–33.5x (median 23.1x, 5 peers)
- Peers' middle-half EV/EBITDA
- 12.5x–20.1x (median 16.5x, 4 peers)
At the peers' middle-half P/E, Tesla's earnings per share from the FY2025 10-K would put the share between $23.33 and $36.20. Those are the peer bars in the valuation chart above — one way to read the price, not a target.
Prices: weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Profits: each company's latest annual filing via SEC EDGAR, as filed. Peers are same-sector names we cover, which is a looser fit. A multiple compares one year's profit with today's price; it says nothing about what either does next.
Discounted cash flow, from Stock valuation
Ten years of free cash flow to the firm, from Tesla's latest figures and Damodaran's industry averages (Auto & Truck). It's one story told with numbers, so it comes as a range.
- Value range, the default story$29.35–$98.43Middle $59.25 a share
- Price, 16 Oct 2026 close$354.72+498.69% ▲ against the middle
- What the price implies58.0% a yearGrowth in years 2–5 that makes value equal the price; the story uses 15.0%
To be worth today's price, Tesla would need to grow sales about 58.0% a year in years 2–5. One way to read this is to ask whether that sounds believable.
The story's assumptions
- Revenue, last 12 months
- $103,619M
- Operating margin now
- 4.2%
- Revenue growth, year 1
- 13.0%
- Revenue growth, years 2–5
- 15.0%
- Growth after year 10
- 5.1%
- Target operating margin, by year 7
- 12.0%
- Sales to capital, years 1–5 / 6–10
- 1.50 / 1.50
- Tax rate now / after year 10
- 20.0% / 25.0%
- Cost of capital, years 1–5
- 10.6%
- Cost of capital after year 10
- 8.7%
- Return on capital after year 10
- 12.7%
- Chance of failure
- 0.0%
Value per share as two inputs change (revenue growth, years 2–5 down, target operating margin across)
| Revenue growth, years 2–5 | 7.0% | 12.0% | 17.0% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.0% | $29.35 | $54.05 | $78.75 |
| 15.0% | $30.56 | $59.25 | $87.94 |
| 18.0% | $31.95 | $65.19 | $98.43 |
Middle cell: the default story. Each step is 3 points of growth or 5 points of margin.
| Year | Growth | Revenue | Margin | Operating income | Tax rate | After-tax income | Reinvestment | Free cash flow | Cost of capital | Present value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13.0% | $117,089M | 5.3% | $6,242M | 20.0% | $4,993M | $8,980M | −$3,987M | 10.6% | −$3,606M |
| 2 | 15.0% | $134,653M | 6.4% | $8,675M | 20.0% | $6,940M | $11,709M | −$4,769M | 10.6% | −$3,901M |
| 3 | 15.0% | $154,851M | 7.6% | $11,697M | 20.0% | $9,358M | $13,465M | −$4,107M | 10.6% | −$3,038M |
| 4 | 15.0% | $178,078M | 8.7% | $15,431M | 20.0% | $12,345M | $15,485M | −$3,140M | 10.6% | −$2,101M |
| 5 | 15.0% | $204,790M | 9.8% | $20,022M | 20.0% | $16,018M | $17,808M | −$1,790M | 10.6% | −$1,083M |
| 6 | 13.0% | $231,450M | 10.9% | $25,201M | 21.0% | $19,909M | $17,773M | $2,136M | 10.2% | $1,173M |
| 7 | 11.0% | $256,993M | 12.0% | $30,839M | 22.0% | $24,055M | $17,029M | $7,026M | 9.8% | $3,512M |
| 8 | 9.1% | $280,261M | 12.0% | $33,631M | 23.0% | $25,896M | $15,512M | $10,384M | 9.4% | $4,743M |
| 9 | 7.1% | $300,081M | 12.0% | $36,010M | 24.0% | $27,367M | $13,213M | $14,154M | 9.1% | $5,927M |
| 10 | 5.1% | $315,355M | 12.0% | $37,843M | 25.0% | $28,382M | $10,183M | $18,199M | 8.7% | $7,012M |
| After 10 | 5.1% | $331,406M | 12.0% | $39,769M | 25.0% | $29,827M | $11,964M | $17,863M | 8.7% | $191,184M |
- Present value of years 1–10
- $8,640M
- Present value after year 10
- $191,184M
- Less debt, plus cash
- $34,182M
- Value of equity
- $234,006M
- Shares
- 3,950M
- Value per share, default story
- $59.25
Company figures: Tesla Q2 2026 10-Q and update deck, 12 months to Jun 2026; shares include CEO award shares; price at 16 Oct 2026 close. Industry averages: Aswath Damodaran, January 2026 US data. Risk-free rates: US 10-year Treasury 5.09% and Singapore 10-year 2.34%, 16 Oct 2026. Equity risk premium: Damodaran's implied premium of 4.20%, 1 Oct 2026. Company figures are the latest reported before 19 Oct 2026. Data as of 16 Oct 2026. The sheet follows the spreadsheets Aswath Damodaran publishes; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by him. A model's value is not a price target. For education only. Not financial advice.
Who owns it, and what's the mood?
Tracked investors and insiders
Trades in Tesla by the people we follow: Warren Buffett and Michael Burry (13F), Grab's officers (Form 4) and Nancy Pelosi (House reports). They show what happened, often weeks later, not what to copy.
| Who | Did | Size | When | Disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ro KhannaUS House member, CA-17 (dependent child's trade) | BoughtShares | $15,001 – $50,000 | 11 Sep 2026 | 7 Oct 202626 days after the trade |
| Ro KhannaUS House member, CA-17 (spouse's trade) | BoughtShares | $15,001 – $50,000 | 4 Sep 2026 | 7 Oct 202633 days after the trade |
| Stanley DruckenmillerDuquesne Family Office | Bought callsCall options | +126,000 shares under optionabout $52,995,600 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Cathie WoodARK Investment Management | TrimmedShares | −71,529 sharesabout $30,085,097 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Elon MuskCEO, Tesla | BoughtShares | +2,568,732 shares | 12 Sep 2025 | 15 Sep 20253 days after the trade |
Sources: SEC EDGAR 13F-HR and Form 4 filings, and the US House Clerk's Periodic Transaction Reports, checked 30 Oct 2026. 13F values are the quarter-end value, not the price paid. All tracked trades ›
- Largest shareholdersSoonThe biggest holders from 13F filings and the annual proxy statement.—
- Chief executive and board holdingsSoonShares held by the CEO and directors, from the proxy statement and Form 4s.—
- Short interestSoonHow many shares are sold short, from exchange short-interest reports.—
Crowd favourite or value trap?
Neither is a label we can put on a stock. These are signs worth looking into, each from a figure on this page.
Signs of a crowd-driven price
Meme stocks move on attention more than on results: big swings, a price far from cash-flow value, thin profits.
2 of 4 signs
- NoSwings at least twice as much as the marketBeta 1.72, 5 years of monthly returns
- NoUp more than 100%, or down more than 50%, in a year1-year price change −12.43%
- YesPrice more than 50% above the valuation sheet's middle valuePrice +499% against the sheet's default story, 16 Oct 2026
- YesThin profits: operating margin under 5%, or a lossFY2025 operating margin 4.6%
Signs of a value trap
A value trap looks cheap because the business is shrinking or earning less than its capital costs.
0 of 4 signs
- NoLooks cheap: P/E under 12 or FCF yield over 8%P/E 370.2x, FCF yield 0.4%
- NoRevenue lower than five years agoRevenue +24.6% a year over 5 years
- NoReturns below the cost of capital5-year average ROIC 33.0% against 9.4%
- NoMore than 30% below its 52-week high−19.9% from the 52-week high
Prices, beta and 1-year change: Yahoo Finance weekly snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Business figures: the five questions under Valuation and financials. A sign is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict. For education only. Not financial advice.
Read it through a lens
Price data: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Company figures: each company's own filings, dated where they appear. A ticker on this site is not a recommendation. For education only. Not financial advice.