Financial Contrast: Tesla (TSLA) versus Its Competitors

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of 119 publicly-traded companies in the “Automobiles” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Tesla to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Tesla has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tesla’s competitors have a beta of 1.02, meaning that their average share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Tesla and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tesla	4	16	27	1	2.52
Tesla Competitors	2134	5136	6396	192	2.34

Tesla presently has a consensus price target of $414.51, suggesting a potential upside of 20.67%. As a group, “Automobiles” companies have a potential upside of 78.51%. Given Tesla’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Tesla has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Tesla and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tesla	3.11%	3.03%	1.78%
Tesla Competitors	-1,522.33%	-123.39%	-11.65%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Tesla and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tesla	$94.83 billion	$3.79 billion	377.48
Tesla Competitors	$2,012.16 billion	$1.13 billion	7.07

Tesla’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Tesla. Tesla is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

66.2% of Tesla shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.1% of shares of all “Automobiles” companies are owned by institutional investors. 20.0% of Tesla shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of shares of all “Automobiles” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Tesla beats its competitors on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services. This segment also provides sedans and sport utility vehicles through direct and used vehicle sales, a network of Tesla Superchargers, and in-app upgrades; purchase financing and leasing services; services for electric vehicles through its company-owned service locations and Tesla mobile service technicians; and vehicle limited warranties and extended service plans. The Energy Generation and Storage segment engages in the design, manufacture, installation, sale, and leasing of solar energy generation and energy storage products, and related services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers and utilities through its website, stores, and galleries, as well as through a network of channel partners; and provision of service and repairs to its energy product customers, including under warranty, as well as various financing options to its solar customers. The company was formerly known as Tesla Motors, Inc. and changed its name to Tesla, Inc. in February 2017. Tesla, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.