Tesla made its debut on Fortune’s 100 fastest-growing companies in 2023. The Texas-based automaker was No. 2 on the list, which featured 22 companies.
According to Fortune, many factors contributed to Tesla’s appearance on the list. However, at the top of those reasons was the fact that the company’s earnings per share grew at a three-year average rate of 285%. Fortune determines the ranking of the companies on its list based on three components: earnings per share, revenue growth, and total return.
Tesla’s revenue growth over the last three years until 2022 has been exponential. In 2020—during the height of the pandemic—Tesla reported an annual revenue of 31.54 billion, an increase of 28.31% compared to 2019. In 2021, Tesla’s annual revenue was $53.82 billion; in 2022, the EV automaker’s revenue grew to about 81.5 billion—51% compared to the previous year.
According to Finance Charts, one of the points of the bulls’ case for TSLA focuses on the company’s 3-year total return of 51.63%, better than the sector medical of 40.21%. As of this writing, TSLA’s total return is -4.49% over the past 12 months. Tesla’s total return is up 72.45% this year.
During the last earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tempered expectations for growth for the company amid rising interest rates. Tesla previously aimed to grow 50% year-over-year before its Q3 2023 earnings call.
“Yeah. I mean, the risk of stating the obvious: it’s not possible to have a compound growth rate of 50% forever, or you will exceed the mass of the known universe. But I think we will grow very rapidly, much faster than any other car company on Earth, by far,” replied Elon Musk, a retail investor question, during the latest earnings call.
The question from the retail investor was as follows:
“Current sell-side consensus assumes that Tesla will deliver 2.3 million vehicles in 2024, representing 28% growth versus 2023 guidance. Is this growth rate achievable without any mass market launches in 2024? And when does Tesla expect to return to its 50% long-term CAGR?”
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