CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday voiced astonishment at the continued strength of Tesla stock – up about 50% last month and about 200% over the past 12 months.
“Tesla is actually a phenomenon that we need to talk about,” said Cramer at Squawk on the Street before the opening bell on Wall Street. “In fact, I’ve never seen a stock go up forever for nothing.”
At the time of Cramer’s remarks, Tesla shares were up about 2% in pre-trading hours.
The stock gained traction during regular trading, closing 8.5% at $ 1,208.59 per share on a market value of $ 1.2 trillion. Tesla stock hit a new all-time intraday high of $ 1,209.75 apiece during the session.
Tesla has soared in the past few weeks after trading below $ 800 per share in the month of October. Based on Friday’s closing price, the stock rose 28.67% from its closing price of $ 865.80 on October 20, when the electric vehicle maker reported record quarterly sales and earnings after the closing bell that day.
Another catalyst for Tesla came a week ago when Hertz announced it would order 100,000 vehicles from Tesla to expand its electric vehicle rental fleet by the end of next year. On that day, October 25, Tesla stock alone rose 12.66%, bringing the company’s market capitalization above $ 1 trillion for the first time.
Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas also issued a positive note for Tesla on Oct.25, which likely lifted sentiment.
Tesla is by far the most valuable automaker in the world.
However, the company’s stock has been a major battleground on Wall Street for years as one of the most heavily truncated or most wagered names.
Many bearish investors believe that Tesla is detached from fundamentals and vastly overvalued, while the bulls believe the EV pioneer can continue to dominate the category, the overall size of which is expected to grow in the years to come.
Cramer turned positively about Tesla about two years ago and has largely retained that constructive view of the Elon Musk-led company. Cramer is also optimistic about Ford as the legacy automaker is investing heavily in converting to electric vehicles. “Ford is taking a big step,” said Cramer on Monday. “Ford had an amazing quarter. They introduced a dividend.”
Last Thursday, the Mad Money presenter said Ford CEO Jim Farley was “ready to bury Musk.”
Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares in Ford. Register here for the new CNBC Investing Club newsletter that tracks Cramer’s every move in the market and delivers it straight to your inbox.
