Should Tesla Try To Acquire Ford Or GM In 2021?

Every week, Benzinga conducts a survey to collect sentiment on what traders are most excited about, interested in or thinking about as they manage and build their personal portfolios.

This week we posed the following question related to Tesla acquiring a legacy automaker:

Over the next year, should Tesla acquire Ford or GM, or neither?

• Ford Motor Company F

• General Motors Company GM

• Neither

Founded in 2003, the electric vehicle-maker Tesla Inc TSLA debuted its Tesla Roadster in 2008 and followed that with the Model S in 2012, Model X in 2015, Model 3 in 2017 and Model Y in 2020.

Tesla also sells solar panels and solar roofs, as well as batteries for energy storage.

The idea might seem outlandish at first, but market-capitalization comparisons invite the topic for discussion.

At an Alex Springer conference in Berlin in December, CEO and co-founder Elon Musk touched on the idea of buying a legacy automotive company.

“Well, I think we’re definitely not going to launch a hostile takeover,” Musk said. “So I suppose if there was a friendly one, if somebody said, ‘Hey, we think it would be a good idea to merge with Tesla,’ we certainly could have that conversation. But, you know, we don’t want it to be a hostile takeover sort of situation.”

See Also: How To Buy Tesla Stock.

At the time Musk made the statement, Tesla’s market cap was around $500 billion.

Tesla’s market cap now is $750 billion, over 6 times greater than that of Ford ($41 billion) and General Motors ($72 billion) combined.

Tesla was also completely unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic sell-off, and its late-2020 addition to the S&P 500 once again pushed the stock to new all-time highs of $900.40 in early 2021. That price corresponds to $4,502 on a pre-split basis.

This week’s study found 40% of traders and investors saying Tesla should not try to leverage its market cap in an attempt do an M&A deal with Ford or GM in 2021.

Around 27% of respondents told us Tesla should try to move forward on an M&A deal with GM in 2021. Many respondents said that since GM now aims to have zero emissions by 2035, why not make it sooner? GM could use Tesla's technology and mass EV production to lower costs that are passed on to consumers.

Finally, 33% of investors believe Tesla should try to do a deal with Ford by the end of the year. They said the marketing for a Tesla-Ford tie-up would be easier than with GM, given the popularity of Ford's Mustang, F-150, Raptor, Expedition and Bronco models.

See Also: How To Buy Ford Stock And How To Buy GM Stock

This survey was conducted by Benzinga in January 2021 and included the responses of a diverse population of adults 18 or older.

Opting into the survey was completely voluntary, with no incentives offered to potential respondents. The study reflects results from over 500 adults.