There have been many US tech shares that have given investors stunning returns in 2023 thus far. But one of the top performers is US electric vehicle and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA).
If you'd assumed we were discussing Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) or Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), that would be excusable. After all, the iPhone maker has recorded a gain of 47% this year so far. Amazon is just behind it with a 45% rise.
But Tesla has gone from US$108.10 a share over the year to date to the US$259.46 it closed at this morning (our time). That's a gain worth a whopping 140%. Out of all the major US tech shares, only semiconductor star NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) can boast of a better return, with its 200%-plus rise.
So if a lucky investor had put $2,000 into Tesla stock at the start of the year, what would they be left with today?
How much would $2,000 worth of Tesla shares be worth today?
Before we get started on that, it's worth discussing the impacts of currency changes. Tesla is priced in US dollars, being an American company and all. As such, any Aussie investor who owns Tesla shares will see the value of their shares change as the Australian dollar rises and falls against the US dollar. That's in addition to the changing Tesla stock price, of course.
However, the Aussie dollar is today buying roughly the same US dollars as it was at the start of the year. As such, we'll leave those currency changes out of our calculations. You can add around $25 (a rough estimate) to the final tally if you really want to account for these.
So, our $2,000 in January would have translated into roughly $1,355 US dollars, not accounting for foreign exchange fees and the like. With that US$1,355, an investor would have been able to pick up 12.5 Tesla shares at a price of US$108.10. US brokerage firms usually let you buy fractional shares, so we'll keep that half-share in the mix.
Based on last night's closing Tesla price of US$259.46, these 12.5 shares would today be worth US$3,243.25. That's $4,767.42 in our dollars.
So it's clear that this US electric vehicle and battery manufacturer has been an unbridled winner in 2023 to date.
However, the Tesla stock price (as well as CEO Elon Musk) is famously volatile, as you can see below:
So while Tesla has enjoyed massive success in 2023, it had a dire 2022, from which the shares are only recovering from now.
