Ralph Nader Says Tesla Is The Reason The 'Stock Market Bubble Implodes'

Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader joined the list of people who raised the ire of Tesla Inc. TSLA fans by questioning whether the company's recent huge run up in market value is warranted.

Tesla's share price has more than doubled in the last three months and its market cap has topped $100 billion, more than that of General Motors Company GM and Ford Motor Company F combined.

When the stock market bubble implodes, it will have been started by the surge in @Tesla shares beyond speculative zeal...

— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) January 22, 2020

Nader followed up with more thoughts on Tesla:

Deep in dept, selling less than 400,000 vehicles last year, and challenged by several competing electric car models in 2020, Tesla's stock valuation stunningly exceeds VW which sold over 10 million vehicles last year. Watch out Tesla believers. -R

— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) January 22, 2020

Twitter, which has a huge pro-Tesla contingent that rips anyone who questions any part of the company's success story, quickly lit into Nader. Among the criticisms was that he's a member of an older generation that doesn't understand Tesla is a tech company that happens to make an electric vehicle, not a car company. Others noted Nader should like Tesla's safety record and positive impact on the environment, two major causes championed by Nader.

'Adversary Of Corporate Capitalism'

Nader, 85, has always been seen as somewhat anti-Wall Street in his role as one of the nation's best-known consumer advocates. He's called himself an “adversary of corporate capitalism."

But in recent years, he's taken up at least a little interest in shareholder rights, and is an investor himself.

A look at Nader's active Twitter feed shows he doesn't often take on individual companies these days, with a few exceptions. He's been extremely and frequently critical of Boeing Co BA as it has reeled in the wake of investigations of its practices following two plane crashes. A few days ago, Nader retweeted a post implying that Boeing stock had been too high and was "finally catching up with reality."

Nader also criticized some big publicly traded companies a couple of years ago for inflating their stock prices through share buybacks rather than putting the money to other uses.

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Photo credit: Sage Ross, Flickr