- Eli Lilly's market cap surpassed Tesla's on Thursday as the EV maker's stock spiraled lower.
- Tesla's market cap closed Thursday at $581 billion, lower than Eli Lilly's $595 billion.
Following a 12% single-day skid for Tesla stock, the electric-vehicle maker has seen its market value surpassed by that of drugmaker Eli Lilly.
The rout, which erased $80 billion of market cap from Tesla, was triggered by an underwhelming earnings report that saw the company miss fourth-quarter estimates for revenue and profit, and signal weak growth for the year ahead. Tesla was also criticized for an earnings call that one analyst called a "train wreck."
The wipeout brought the company's market cap to $581 billion as of Thursday's market close, while Eli Lilly stood at $595 billion.
The drugmaker's eventual overtaking of Tesla started in 2023, when it hopped on the Ozempic craze with its weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound and sent shares 59% higher for the year. The stock is now up 79% over the past 12 months.
Although it's been tagged as one of Magnificent 7 tech stocks that propped up the market's rally last year, Tesla's stock has tumbled 27% this month alone. Tesla was also recently passed by Chinese EV maker BYD in terms of car sales.
Wednesday's earnings report presented a "trifecta of bad news," said Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan. The company expects sales growth to slow in 2024, it can't bring down costs any further, and Musk has turned investors sour on his push to own a 25% stake in the company, he argued.
Meanwhile, analysts are far more optimistic about Lilly. Last month, Goldman Sachs said that the stock could soar 140% by 2028 as demand for GLP-1 drugs grows. And billionaire investor Ken Langone has said the firm will become the first trillion-dollar drug company in history.