Tesla becomes world’s second most valuable carmaker

Tesla is now the second most valuable car company in the world after overtaking Germany’s Volkswagen.

On Wednesday, market capitalization for Elon Musk’s company broke $100 billion, a first for a listed U.S. automaker, Reuters reported.

The surge in stock value has allowed Tesla to overtake several of its more established competitors. It is now second only to Japan’s Toyota, which has a market cap of $233 billion.

But even with its stock gains, many in the auto industry are skeptical that Tesla will be able to consistently increase its profits.

Forward sales estimates indicate Tesla will gross $31 billion over the next 12 months, a figure that would not put the company among the top 20 automakers when it comes to demand.

By comparison, Toyota is expected to make $276 billion, Volkswagen $283 billion and Daimler $191 billion, according to Reuters.

President Trump recently praised Musk, who is co-founder and CEO of Tesla.

Speaking this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump called Musk one of the world’s “great geniuses.”

In 2018, Musk was forced to step down as chairman of Tesla and pay a $20 million fine for allegedly misleading investors through his tweets.