Tesla, the ‘national favorite foreign stock’ whose share price had halved this year, overcame its slump and reclaimed an all-time high after one year. Although electric vehicle sales are slowing, strong expectations for advanced industries that Tesla is pursuing, such as robotaxi·robot·artificial intelligence (AI), and anticipated benefits from the space exploration company ‘SpaceX’, which is pursuing an initial public offering (IPO), have also contributed.

On the 16th (local time), Tesla closed on the New York stock market at $489.88 per share (about 720,000 KRW), up 3.07% from the previous session. Surpassing the previous record closing price of $479.86 set on December 17 last year after one year, it set a new all-time closing high. On an intraday basis, it also renewed a record high at $491.5 per share.

According to the Korea Securities Depository, by holding amount (as of the 15th) Tesla is the stock most held by Korean retail investors who buy foreign stocks, and is called the ‘national favorite foreign stock’. The Tesla holdings of these overseas-stock retail investors alone amount to about $29.6 billion (about 43.8 trillion KRW), comparable to Hanwha Aerospace, which ranks 10th in domestic market capitalization (about 45 trillion KRW).

Over the past two years, Tesla shares have ridden a roller coaster. During the U.S. presidential election last year, as Elon Musk, Tesla chief executive officer (CEO), played a leading role in Donald Trump being elected president, the share price soared on expectations of benefits, but this year it did not. The share price fell due to Musk political moves, and with discord with President Trump and the impact of tariffs overlapping, it dropped to $221.86 in April, cutting the price in half from its peak.

Afterward, as tariff concerns eased and market expectations spread for advanced industries that Tesla is pursuing, including full self-driving (FSD) technology, AI, robotaxi, and humanoid robots, the stock recovered its decline. Recently, as news emerged that SpaceX, a private company of CEO Musk valued at $800 billion (about 1,183 trillion KRW), could seek a listing next year, Tesla shares have been rising as well.

As the corporate values of Tesla and SpaceX increased, the U.S. business outlet Forbes recently estimated the net worth of Elon Musk at $677 billion. Assuming a won-dollar exchange rate of 1,480 won, Musk assets exceed 1,000 trillion won.

On Wall Street, a cautious view is being expressed about the Tesla share price. This month, global investment bank (IB) Morgan Stanley lowered its investment opinion on Tesla for the first time since June 2023 from ‘overweight’ to ‘hold (neutral)’. The reasons are that the outlook for future businesses is already reflected in the share price and that electric vehicle sales are slowing.

Investor Michael Burry, famous for having predicted the 2008 financial crisis, also warned this month regarding Tesla, “The market capitalization of Tesla is currently absurdly overvalued.”