What If You Invested $1,000 in Tesla in 2013?

Worth Today

$149,508.47

+$148,508.47 profit150x

Invested

$1,000.00

CAGR

44.0%

Time Period

13.7 years

Return

+14,851%

A $1,000 investment in Tesla at the start of 2013 would be worth approximately $149,508.47 today — a 149.5x return representing a 44.0% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over 13.7 years.

Try your own numbers

If I had putintoat the start of…

it would be worth today

$149,508

+$148,508 profit150x44.0% a year

The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $6,869

Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$127,232

US federal long-term rates: 15% for most people, 0% on lower incomes, 20% + 3.8% on high incomes. No state tax included; none inside a Roth IRA.

Growth Over Time

Performance Metrics

Total Invested

$1,000.00

Current Value

$149,508.47

Total Profit

$148,508.47

Multiplier

150x

CAGR

44.0%

Max Drawdown

-73.0%

Inflation-Adjusted

$106,857.28

Benchmark Comparison

How does $1,000.00 invested in 2013 compare across different asset classes?

AssetValue TodayReturn
Tesla$149,508.47150x
S&P 500$6,868.656.87x
Gold$2,515.882.52x
Savings (2% APY)$1,312.801.31x

Dividends

Tesla paid no dividends over this period, so the whole return came from its share price.

Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.

Back in 2013

  • In May 2013, Tesla paid off its U.S. Department of Energy loan nine years early, clearing the balance with a single $451.8 million wire transfer. engadget.com
  • In 2013, a gallon of gas averaged $3.50, a movie ticket averaged $8.13 and the new iPhone 5s started at $199 with a two-year contract. eia.govcnn.comhollywoodreporter.com
  • During 2013 itself, Tesla rose 324%, #2 of the 76 investments we track. The best was Bitcoin (+5,689%); the worst was Gold ETF (GLD) (−28%). Full 2013 results →

$1,000 in Tesla, year by year

Of the 76 investments we track that were available at the start of 2013, Tesla ranks #5 by growth to today, near the top — just behind Broadcom and ahead of Netflix. See the full 2013 ranking →

Tesla started 2013 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 26% in 2012. It has been worth more than the $1,000 put in at every January since, and still is today. Its best January was 2026, at $185,623. Today it's 19% below that, so selling then would have beaten holding. It rose in 10 of the 13 full years since. It has been ahead of the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at every January since, and still is. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Nov 2021 ($160,955) to Dec 2022 ($51,958), a drop of 68%. At its lowest month-end, in Feb 2013, it was worth $979.43.

WhenWorthChangeS&P 500
Start of 2013$1,000—$1,000
Start of 2014$4,242+324%$1,324
Start of 2015$6,195+46%$1,505
Start of 2016$6,309+1.8%$1,526
Start of 2017$6,131−2.8%$1,708
Start of 2018$9,055+48%$2,081
Start of 2019$8,758−3.3%$1,990
Start of 2020$12,153+39%$2,617
Start of 2021$102,966+747%$3,098
Start of 2022$169,492+65%$3,988
Start of 2023$45,805−73%$3,265
Start of 2024$105,263+130%$4,124
Start of 2025$160,403+52%$5,156
Start of 2026$185,623+16%$6,077
Today$149,508−19%$6,869

Values at the start of each year (first trading day for stocks). The S&P 500 column includes reinvested dividends, like the stock values.

Historical Context

At the start of 2013, Tesla was priced at $2.36 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 424 shares. Tesla makes electric vehicles, batteries and energy-storage systems. It went public on the Nasdaq in June 2010.

Measured from one January to the next, Tesla's best year since then was 2020 (+747%) and its worst was 2022 (−73%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023, the position fell 73% from its high.

Frequently Asked Questions

A $1,000 investment in Tesla at the start of 2013 would be worth approximately $149,508.47 today — a 150x return ($148,508.47 profit) over 13.7 years.

Methodology & Sources

Price data: Historical prices are the closing price on the first trading day of each year, adjusted for splits and dividends (so returns assume dividends were reinvested), from Yahoo Finance and MacroTrends. Current prices come from Yahoo Finance and refresh hourly; if that source is unavailable, the last saved price is used.

Calculation: Assumes a single purchase at the start of 2013 (or the first trading day, for companies that listed that year), held until today. No transaction fees, taxes, or slippage are included.

Benchmarks: The S&P 500 comparison uses the S&P 500 Total Return index (dividends reinvested, like an index fund) at the start of2013 and today. Gold uses the price per troy ounce. Savings account assumes a 2% APY compounded annually.

Inflation adjustment: Uses U.S. CPI-U annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2026 CPI value is estimated.

Educational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.

Other investments from 2013

See how every stock and crypto ranked since 2013 →

$1,000 in Tesla, by year

$1,000 in Tesla:1 year ago5 years ago10 years ago

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