Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is certainly a polarizing business. The bulls believe the company will be worth much more in the future, thanks to autonomous driving success. The bears believe it will remain a challenged car manufacturer.
Nonetheless, this electric vehicle (EV) stock deserves a closer look. If you had invested $5,000 in Tesla five years ago, here’s how much you’d have today.
Shares of Tesla have rocketed 200% higher in the past five years (as of Nov. 17). A $5,000 initial investment would be worth an impressive $15,000 today. This strong gain has happened despite extreme volatility. The stock currently trades 15% below its peak.
Perhaps no metric has had more of an impact on Tesla shares than revenue. During the third quarter (ended Sept. 30), the company reported sales of $28.1 billion, up a notable 219% from Q3 2020. It’s worth mentioning, though, that Tesla’s revenue declined through the first six months of 2025.
But greater sales over the trailing five-year period means that Tesla delivered more electric vehicles, which is obviously an encouraging trend. And that has helped the business generate consistent net income.
With shares trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 273, however, investors might want to think twice before buying the stock.
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Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $483,755!*
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Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $51,091!*
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Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $593,222!*
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*Stock Advisor returns as of November 17, 2025